Peacock |Dir: Bernhard Wenger | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
Inspired by a boom in rent-a-friend agencies in Japan, Austrian writer/ director Bernhard Wenger introduces us to Matthias (Albrecht Schuch) – a companion for every occasion. Meticulously preparing for every possible occasion, he is always immaculately groomed, perfectly polite, considerate and patient.
Easy on the eye Matthias is a marvellous pin-up for his Vienna based Rent-A-Friend agency, My Companion, which is very successful if his automated modernist house and expensive car are anything to go by.
Matthias can be the perfect boyfriend, the exciting pilot father for Bring-A-Father Day at the primary school or the perfect son to impress your friends and colleagues at your sixtieth birthday.
What is more, he enjoys being a companion to someone seeking a date to a classical music concert; needing a partner to apply for a ‘couples only’ rental or sparring with someone wanting to know how to stand up against a bullying husband.
Being a blank slate that adapts to every client’s wish means that he has to put his own emotions on hold. He is such an expert at doing this that his girlfriend leaves him, saying he “doesn’t seem real any more”.
This leads Matthias to an existential crisis and, in his desperation to find his real self; he goes to an expensive yoga retreat, attempts a disastrous affair and even gets a Pomeranian puppy from Rent-A-Dog.
Matthias actually becomes more human as his perfect life unravels. He drops his mask of perfection and the fantastically black humour comes to the fore. Laugh until you cry as he strips down to his essential self while the people surrounding him still think it is a performance.
Peacock screens as part of the 2025 German Film Festival at Palace Raine Square, Luna Leederville and Luna on SX from 8 May until 28 May.
Lezly Herbert
