In Linus von Stumberg’s ‘Syncope,’ a Shock-Collar Dance Against Death

(Spoiler warning: The following reveals key plot points about “Syncope,” a film by Linus von Stumberg now playing at Indy Shorts.)

Linus von Stumberg was a dancer-choreographer before he became an actor-filmmaker, and he brings all those experiences to “Syncope,” a striking short that begins with dancers struggling to breathe and climaxes in them dancing for their lives, injected with poison and outfitted in shock collars under the direction of a coldly commanding choreographer.

The Swiss film plays Saturday as part of the Unexpected block at Indianapolis’ Indy Shorts, and is also available for viewing online. Going into “Syncope” knowing nothing, as I did, you quickly sympathize with the empathetic, eager-to-please Whim (Lea Korner) as you watch her and other dancers go through a desperate, fiercely competitive audition process. But the film takes the first of many turns when the choreographer suggests a final trial: ordering the dancers when to breathe or hold their breath, with snaps of his fingers.

The choreographer’s motivations come into question as he stealthily becomes the most intriguing character: Is he challenging his performers to be their best? Exerting a kind of sadism? Or both?

The film takes on an added resonance when you realize — as I only did after watching it — that von Stumberg is not only the film’s writer, director and choreographer, but also the actor who plays the simultaneously magnetic and repellant choreographer. And the film takes on another meta layer when you think about him directing a real-life cast who are playing a cast of dancers under direction.

It gains yet another layer when you realize that von Stumberg has also been the dancer — the person being told by a choreographer what to do. Do his sympathies as a filmmaker lie with Lea? Or maybe — a tiny bit — with the choreographer?

You can read his Syncope character as either an obsessed artist, who will compel his performers to greatness by any means necessary, or as a dictatorial monster who uses dance as a means of control. The choreographer’s shifts from cool understatement to jittery smoking add to the mysteries about his motives.

But even setting interpretation aside, the film captivates on a primal level thanks to a sense of flawless timing and coordination that recalls one of those watches famously made in von Stumberg’s country. The dances are impressively choreographed, but so is the plotting.

We emailed with von Stumberg about working backwards, layered metaphors, and staying ahead of the audienc. He also let us know where his true sympathies lie.

MovieMaker: Can you talk about the origin of the film? What was the initial idea and how did it evolve?

Linus von Stumberg: Coming from the idea of having somebody dance against a poison, I wrote the screenplay backwards. Through that I created the characters and embedded deeper subjects like abuse of power and crossing lines for the sake of art. To introduce the world and the characters, I created the special concept for the audition with controlling the dancers breathing.

To the question of how to deal with the deeds of the choreographer, I wrote an interrogation that should run through the whole film to create tension and to have the plot twist in the end.

MovieMaker: Your cast is excellent – how did you go about finding people who were extraordinary actors as well as dancers?

Linus von Stumberg: The whole dance cast are good friends of mine, since I’m a dancer and choreographer myself, I’m well connected in the scene. Most of the acting parts we also rehearsed in the dance trainings. With the main dancer Lea, I rehearsed additionally in single sessions. Because of their experience as performing artists and their closeness to the subject, all dancers were challenged in a new way, but pulled it off with beautiful dedication and expertise.

MovieMaker: What was your biggest challenge?

Linus von Stumberg: To also play the choreographer in the film was a great challenge, because I also don’t have much acting experience yet. But this gave me additional entry into the world of the film and was extremely fun. Because we only had five days to shoot the entire film, I could never really look at my own takes. But through this, a beautiful trust resulted between the crew, the cast and me. 

Linus von Stumberg on the Metaphors of ‘Syncope’

MovieMaker: The film leaves a lot of open questions – do you want to expand it into a feature? Or do you prefer the frightening power of those open questions?

Linus von Stumberg: Yes, I’m currently writing the script for the feature film “Syncope” based on the short. A lot of it takes place before the happenings of the short, as the choreographer is the main character and the story continues further. It needed this ending in the short, to hit the audience even harder. 

MovieMaker: Do you see the film as metaphorical for anything beyond dance? It’s interesting to wonder whether the dancers are ultimately in some way glad to be pushed so hard, or are just leaving in fear.

Linus von Stumberg: To dance for your life can be translated onto various arts, especially performing arts. The choreographer’s growing obsession with the movement in a fight for survival, will turn this saying very much into reality. In art, you never know what lays behind the finished work. Fame and words can be very misleading… To have dancers fight against a poison is a spectacle but shall also expose a deeper metaphor. 

The audience in the film, that doesn’t know anything about the poisoning and sees the dance as something new and as a great choreography, reward the dancers with roaring applause. Like too often, this then washes away the previous suffering. The film audience gets confronted with a moral test themselves and they also get manipulated. With the plot twist of the mysterious voice over at the end, all expectations shall be shattered and tested again.

Indy Shorts, celebrating its seventh year, is one of our Coolest Film Festivals and 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. It runs through Sunday.

Main image: Lea Korner as Whim in “Syncope.”