MGFF MOVIE REVIEW: A PACT (ZUM GEBURTSTAG)



2/5

Many years ago two teenagers, Paul and Georg, make a pact - Greg will give Paul his girlfriend Anna, but reserves the right to take her back whenever he pleases. Many years later Greg shows up again as Paul’s boss.  Paul and Anna now have two grown up children, their life is well set up and with the arrival of Greg an unwelcome tension enters their lives. Is Greg here to collect his due? Or is there a more sinister plan at hand.

THE PACT is a little slow burning thriller with an original premise, with the twisted ending being its biggest problem - you will see miles away. Paul’s family dynamic is a little artificial. These are not the people you will care about and at times there is a feeling that they deserve exactly what’s coming to them.

The tension overall is rather week and the row of missed opportunities will be obvious to every movie lover. The best quality acting comes from the younger cast. As for the grown ups - none of them is particularly good. The baddies try to be too infernal, particularly Sylvester Groth in the role of Georg, and at times overdoing it. The most ridiculous and over the top performance comes from the Austrian actor Sophie Rois, balancing between the act of a faithful housewife and a “femme fatal” and faking it big time.


The film would have benefit from a tighter script and a more menacing cinematography. As it is A PACT is a curious but forgettable thriller that does not stand out for any reason.

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