Directed by:
Pia MaraisCinematography:
Andre ChemetoffComposer:
Bachar KhaliféCast:
Rayna Campbell, August Diehl, Rapulana Seiphemo, Terry Norton, Jeroen Kranenburg, Yûho YamashitaPlots(1)
Layla is a single mother living with her son in Johannesburg, getting by with casual work. After training as a polygraph operator she manages to secure a job with a company specialising in lie detectors and security. On her way to her new workplace she is involved in an accident which will fundamentally change her life. Layla becomes entangled in a web of lies and deceit. The truth could lead to the loss of her son.
For her third feature film Pia Marais - who has lived in Berlin for many years - returned to South Africa where she grew up to make this classic thriller. She uses the genre to take a look at a country which still bears the scars of apartheid. In this way, everyday life in South Africa enhances the tension in the screenplay which she co-wrote with Horst Markgraf. Almost casually, Layla Fourie develops into a political thriller which takes the audience into the paranoia, fear and mistrust of a society that is still profoundly affected by racial conflict.
(Berlinale)
Cast
Rayna Campbell
Best movies:
Extraction 2 (2023)
Extraction (2020)
Layla Fourie (2013)
August Diehl
West Germany
Best movies:
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Frau Ella (2013)
The Master and Margarita (2023)
Rapulana Seiphemo
South Africa
Best movies:
Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema (2008)
Tsotsi (2005)
Layla Fourie (2013)
Terry Norton
Best movies:
Breathe (2017)
Dust Devil (1992)
Mandela and de Klerk (1997) (TV movie)
Jeroen Kranenburg
Best movies:
Layla Fourie (2013)
Beauty (2011)
The Piano Player (2002)
Yûho Yamashita
Best movies:
Partisan (2015)
The Signal (2024) (series)
Kitaro and the Millennium Curse (2008)