The Universal Theory

The Universal Theory (Die Theorie von Allem) is a 2023 mystery thriller film directed by Timm Kröger, from a screenplay written by Kröger with Roderick Warich.

The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it premiered on 3 September 2023.

Plot
In 1962, physicist Johannes travels with his doctoral supervisor to a scientific congress in the Swiss Alps. It is there that he meets Karin, a jazz pianist, who is suspiciously knowledgeable about Johannes. A series of mysterious deaths occur at the mountainous site, and the two venture to uncover the secrets hidden below. The story includes an Iranian guest, a strange cloud formation in the sky and quantum mechanics.

Production
The Universal Theory was produced by Germany's Ma.ja.de. Fiction and The Barricades, in co-production with Austria's Panama Film and Switzerland's Catpics AG. Principal photography began in January 2022 at the ski resort of St. Jakob in Defereggen, Austria. The film was shot in black-and-white using CinemaScope. Filming was projected to wrap at the end of February.

Release
The Universal Theory was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 3 September 2023. International sales are handled by Paris-based company Charades. The film was theatrically released in Germany on 26 October 2023 by Neue Visionen.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 79% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.