Draft:Head burst

Head Burst (Kopfplatzen in German) is a 2019 drama film by German-Turkish director Savaş Ceviz.

The film tells the story of a pedophile named Markus, played by Max Riemelt who is distressed about his own attractions. When a mother and her young son moves in, he is forced to confront the desires he long repressed.

Plot
Markus is a 29-year-old, handsome but single and a respected architect. Despite the normal life he lives, no one around him suspects that he has pedophilic tendencies. Little boy's bodies excite him. He takes photographs of boys at swimming pools and on TV. Yet despite these actions, he hates himself for his thoughts and has to fight his desires every day. One day, he visits a doctor and tells him if he can cure his pedophilia. The doctor tells him to get out.

Later on, a woman named Jessica moves into the apartment next door, with her 8-year-old son, Arthur. Markus starts falling in love with the boy, and over time, babysits the boy and starts developing a sexual relationship with Jessica despite not being attracted to adults.

One day, he reads an ad in the newspaper about the Dunkelfeld Prevention Project, a program that treats pedophiles and finds a therapist. He asks the therapist to cure him but is instead given the news that pedophilia is incurable. Markus does not take this news lightly and contemplates jumping off a bridge.

One day, Arthur begs Markus to bathe with him together with the approval of the mother. Despite being hesitant at first, he eventually joins him in the bath, albeit nervously. While both Arthur and Markus are in the bath, Jessica visits Markus's room to grab something when she comes across Markus's scantily clad photographs of boys, including Arthur. She confronts him about the pictures and attacks him, Markus tearfully confesses that he is a pedophile and that he despises himself for it, going so far as to run towards the kitchen and slash himself on the wrists.

He ends up in a hospital and his sister visits, knowing his secret. She tells him that his family has disowned him and he is no longer allowed to visit his nephew.

After getting out of the hospital, he tries to better himself, he collects all his photographs of boys and burns them in a field and even avoids Arthur when he invites him to hang out. Despite that, his attractions have not disappeared. He is forced to contend with the fact that he will live like this for the rest of his life.

The final scene shows him cleaning his apartment, dressing up nicely, and sitting on a bed with pills next to him on a table.

Cast

 * Max Riemelt : Markus
 * Isabell Gerschke : Jessica
 * Oskar Netzel : Arthur
 * Gabriele Krestan : Christa
 * Ercan Durmaz : Dr. Jawad
 * Aris Diamanti : Mehmet
 * Odine Johne : Svenja

Production
It was directed by Savaş Ceviz, who also wrote the script and, together with Jens Südkamp, ​​the film music and acted as film editor together with Frank Brummundt. In preparation for the film, Savaş worked with Berlin Charité's “Prevention Project Dunkelfeld", which aims to provide people dealing with sexual thoughts of children therapeutic help so that they do not harm a child.

Savaş first developed the idea of the film in 2006 but had difficulty trying to find funding for the film. It only started filming after SPD politician Sebastian Edathy was investigated for possessing child abuse material in 2014.

Release
The film was scheduled to release in April 2, 2020 but was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It was instead released online on the streaming platform Salzgeber Club.

Reception
Jens Balenborg from epd Film writes that Head Burst has a lot in common with Shame, Steve McQueen's sober, intense character study of a sex addict. Like the English director, Savaş Ceviz does not rely on dramatic drama, but rather on psychological oppression: “He takes us into the head of the pedophilic Markus and lets us see the world through his eyes.” However, the film never stylizes Markus as a monster, but even if you come close to him, he still stays away. says Wartenberg.