SelfCare

A boy is cooking, a girl is waiting. Breakfast is soon served. Then a stranger enters the bedroom where the girl is lying and the nightmare begins.

A short film about love and dependence, about relationships and the urge to break out. Experimental, atmospheric and drenched in neon red.

  • Luke Röber
    Director
  • Luke Röber
    Writer
  • Luke Röber
    Producer
  • Ludwig Uhde
    Key Cast
  • Luisa Schmitt
    Key Cast
  • Luke Röber
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    SelfCare
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Horror, Drama
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes 43 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 31, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    10 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    German
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Luke Röber

Lukas Andreas Röber, known professionally as Luke Röber, is a German director, writer, editor, composer and occasional actor.
Born in Würzburg, Germany, he was drawn to Vienna after completing his studies in theater and German language and literature, where he will finish his master's degree in theater, film and media studies.

Röber has experience in theater and has participated in countless performances. At the same time, he has had a passion for writing since his younger years.

In addition to performed plays, he has written several short stories and a book. His first novella was awarded the Youth Literature Prize of the city of Kitzingen, Germany.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

With SelfCare, I wanted to depict the discrepancy between unconditional care for the partner and the hurtful callousness of an ego-centred individual in relationships. Here, the boy who cooks represents the symbol of the care one gives oneself; the brutal egoism, the sheer joy of self-staging in self-care.
Next to him is the girl. She calmly waits for the promised breakfast, between habit and superiority, a self-imposed dependency (she cannot eat without him cooking) but which also speaks of one's freedom through the unconditional attention of her boyfriend. The latter, dependent and sad, dies in his own body, giving space to the cook. This one pushes forth to violently break out of the previously imposed dependence of his carnal host by overpowering the woman and practising his self-care in front of her.

SelfCare shows the two extremes of a toxic relationship model in the form of a horror film that takes place in both the girlfriend's and the boyfriend's head. Both have nightmare visions of the spider's web that clutches their relationship hierarchy, and unable to break out of it, they oscillate between dream and terror, guilt and rage.