A sterile room, small armchairs, and tables; boys enter all dressed alike: yellow polo shirts, beige shorts, purple socks, sneakers.

They form a circle and start talking about self-control, stress, awareness, diet, pollution reduction, mindful eating.

Question from the teacher: how do you increase awareness by eating a chocolate bar?

Inhale, exhale, "it’s you with the bar."

We are at the Talent Campus, a school for talents, at least "that's what the parents say and want," says the director, speaking with the new teacher Novak, who will deal with mindful eating after being chosen by the parents' council as a pioneer in the field.

"There's more in you" is the motto, "reaching for the stars" is the school's goal, to which no geographic location can be assigned, but the time frame seems absolutely contemporary.

Besides sports and learning Mandarin, it's important for parents to improve the dietary skills of their children.

The teacher also produces a fasting tea with her face on the packaging, which she gives to the director.

Being vegan seems now out of fashion and it’s necessary to understand how to eat mindfully.

It is interesting to observe two parents talking about the need to reduce consumption inside an extremely luxurious villa with a pool and irrigation system running.

In another luxury villa, full of contemporary art, a mother, wandering around the house as if she were going to a reception, in a perfectly Chanel look, hears her daughter Elsa vomiting in the bathroom.

In the first part of the film, the sound of Taiko Japanese drum percussion is repeated, giving the environment a mysterious atmosphere, also referring to the importance of posture, body movements inspired by martial arts and Zen Buddhism principles, and the right amount of energy that allow developing and manifesting true inner strength, harmonizing it with the body.

The boys return home on weekends, but Fred, the dance talent, has parents in Ghana working on a local project and has been left in the care of this institution.

Professor Novak will think of dedicating time to him by doing yoga the first time, and taking him to the opera the next.

The teacher’s instruction consists of learning to eat less and consequently have less hunger, becoming aware that this is essential for the planet, for personal purification, for life extension, up to autophagy.

Every time the boys access the cafeteria, they come to the table with less food on their tray, eating more and more slowly and cutting portions into very small pieces.

Only one of them, Ben, does not intend to follow that method because his mother loves to cook and he does not want to disappoint her.

Ben is the only true talent in the group, is fatherless, has modest origins, and can attend the school's program only with a scholarship that Professor Novak does not intend to support because he does not follow her mindful eating methodology.

The only mother who realizes the potential harm the professor may cause the boys is Ben's mom, while the other parents will worry about expelling her for breaking the rule of associating with a student outside the school context.

The concern is for relative danger compared to an absolute one.

More or less sarcastic and disturbing scenes will unfold throughout the film, extremely engaging and meaningful.

Like the aborted kiss or when discussing economic equity or the purchase of chairs in the music room.

The director claims that parents do not have time to take care of their children, so the school/college must take full care of them, especially their health: "parents cannot be unhappy, with all they pay!"

Breaking free from the chains of the food lobby means not eating at all and thus reaching the final step, Club Zero.

Besides, there is no need for scientific proof for something that works, says Novak.

Meditation is fundamental, like mindfulness, but above all, it’s a matter of faith: believing fully in Club Zero to combat the transience of existence.

And so it will all happen on Christmas Eve, while a Gospel song plays: the painting so loved by the mindful eating professor will come to life with eternal presences.

A film that denounces the adolescent, family, school, socio-economic condition.

A film about parental interference in their children's lives, their school and career choices; about the reversal of the Freudian Oedipus complex, the evaporation of the father, his absence as a symbolic authority of the law he represents.

A film about contemporary parental inability that manifests in begging for their children's love while spasmodically pursuing the principle of performance to prevent and avoid their failure.

A film about faith, as Lourdes was; about science, as Little Joe was, about suicide, as Amor Fou was: all themes dear and recurring in Hausner's highly sophisticated cinema.

Here, however, there is also a finger pointed at the socio-economic issue and the responsibility of the disconnection from reality that comes with extreme capitalism contexts.

A film about truths and the danger they entail, especially when considered radical or entirely unfounded.

Hausner’s environments are nonetheless closed, almost to emphasize the lack of oxygenation and the critical/social claustrophobia this can entail: she often uses uniforms, as in this case, the boys' uniform, or as the biologists’ lab coats in Little Joe.

A film about food and its obsession, where there is an overproduction of cooking shows and social media, while a large percentage of young people suffer from eating disorders, and about 24,000 people die daily from hunger or related causes.

A film about the need to feel part of a group and be recognized in belonging, a label, an elite: under penalty of invisibility.

A film especially about the manipulation parents exert on their children, with their expectations, with their miserable projections, to build their own image and support it through their successes, making them easy prey to others' manipulations after handing them over to a frightening world.

An extraordinary film that manages to unsettle by denouncing with a compelling rhythm the indelible screenplay of a monstrous legacy in which the spread of mental disorders is simply the demonstration of the deep crisis of the real and symbolic process of filiation.

27-Oct-2023 by Fabian