Trial of Hein (Der Heimatlose) | 2026 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review

Far From Home: Stänicke’s Direction Leaves the Audience Marooned

How does one define their own home? Is it the place we were born? The place we grew up? Or a more abstract attribute like sexuality, self-acceptance or maybe even a hobby? In Kai Stänicke’s feature debut we focus on Hein (Paul Boche) returning to a tiny German island community 14 years after leaving for the mainland. The only problem is he appears to have physically changed quite a bit and no one seems to be wholly certain this is the young boy that left all those years ago. The village decides the best way to solve the issue of allowing Hein to return is a trial in order for him to prove himself to truly be Hein. Without the psychological intensity of similar concepts like Goodnight Mommy or Bart Layton’s doc The Imposter, Trial of Hein remains frustratingly still and uninspired, saturated in an attempted moody color palette of drab greys.

Hein is to stay at his presumed sister Greta’s (Emilia Schüle) “house” while the trial is to decide his fate. Stänicke decides to delve into some magic realism as every house in the village gives the appearance of an abandoned film set à la Dogville. The front of the houses stand tall and there are rooms but no roofs and empty space where walls should be. It’s an inspired idea in theory but comes across as hackneyed and unrestrained. At times overstuffed, the film features sequences cut from multiple angles that create a distractingly choppy effect; a more refined edit could have better aligned the material with its brooding, introspective tone, rather than leaving it feeling tonally mismatched.

The two main performers of Boche and Schüle are the standouts of the film. Both give complex and subtle performances as they try to adjust to this uncertain reality without overstepping any kind of invisible marker. Hein’s mother suffering from mental debilitation offers an alternative question to the majority of the village’s mistrust. She seems to be the only one to recognize him but our inevitable erosion of memory provides a dubious piece of evidence. The narrative is unfocused and flits from these slow, contemplative scenes of Hein being shunned by different villagers and providing tedious evidence at the trial. There are numerous anecdotes from Hein’s youth, but despite their variety, the stakes never feel particularly high and when the film’s twist arrives through Hein’s old friend Friedemann (Phillip Froissant) by then, it’s too late — we’ve endured too much and been given too little in return.

At least Florian Mag’s cinematography captures the stunning remote location in frequently stunning clarity. It’s a shame the vistas of the island are few and far between, it is too often condensed and makes the film feel more like a stage-play. There is promise in Trial of Hein but it does not have the execution to last its just over two hour runtime. Just like the film’s inhabitants, the audience are left marooned at sea.

Reviewed on February 16th – 2026 Berlin International Film Festival (76th edition) – Perspectives section. 122 mins.

★★/☆☆☆☆☆