Viviane Bartsch

After the shocks of Faith and Love, Ulrich Seidl made possibly the most surprising decision of all: tenderness. The final film in his Paradise trilogy—and by some accounts the best—finds the provocateur at peak warmth (but still transgressive) for a brightly twisted coming of age story.

Fashioned with more grit than glamor, Ulrich Seidl’s provocative portrait of aspiring models in 1990s Vienna rips apart the glossy magazines spreads to reveal a hollow core. Taking the perspective of a mirror, the camera stands witness to an image-obsessed industry festering with predatory men.