Treasure (2024 film)

2024 German-French film directed by Julia von Heinz

Treasure

Directed by| Julia von Heinz
Written by|

* Julia von Heinz
* John Quester

Based on| Too Many Men
by Lily Brett
Produced by|

* Fabian Gasmia
* Julia von Heinz
* Lena Dunham

Starring|

* Lena Dunham
* Stephen Fry
* Zbigniew Zamachowski

Cinematography| Daniela Knapp
Edited by| Sandie Bompar
Music by|

* Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz
* Mary Komasa-Łazarkiewicz

Production
companies

* Seven Elephants GmbH
* Good Thing Going
* Haïku Films

Distributed by|

* Alamode Film (Germany)
* FilmNation Entertainment
* Bleecker Street

Release dates

* 17 February 2024 (2024-02-17) (Berlinale)
* 14 June 2024 (2024-06-14) (United States)

Running time

| 112 minutes
Countries|

* Germany
* France

Language| English

Treasure is a 2024 tragicomedy film directed by Julia von Heinz. Based on the 1999 novel Too Many Men by Lily Brett, the film starring Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry is set in 1990. It tells the story of an American journalist Ruth who travels to Poland with her father Edek to visit his childhood places. But Edek, a Holocaust survivor, resists reliving his trauma and sabotages the trip creating unintentionally funny situations.[1]

It was selected in the Berlinale Special Gala section at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival and was screened on 17 February 2024.[2] The film is scheduled to release in United States on June 14, 2024 by Bleecker Street in co-partnership with FilmNation Entertainment.[3]

## Cast[edit]

* Lena Dunham as Ruth
* Stephen Fry as Edek
* Zbigniew Zamachowski as Stefan
* Petra Zieser as German Woman
* Robert Besta as Hotel Manager
* Oliver Ewy as Witek
* David Krzysteczko as Michal
* Monika Obmalko as Managerin
* Dennis Papst as Hotelgast
* Anya Leonhard as Hotelgast
* Yuval Gal Cohen as Hotelgast

## Production[edit]

Initially titled Iron Box, the film is directed by Julia von Heinz who also wrote the screenplay with John Quester, and is produced by Seven Elephants and Good Thing Going.[4]

The film was shot from 21 February 2023 to 7 May 2023 in Germany at Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and in Poland. 18 of the 39 days of filming took place in central Germany in spring 2023. The main filming location in the region was Halle (Saale).[5]

## Release[edit]

Treasure had its world premiere on 17 February 2024, as part of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, in Berlin Special Gala.[6][7] Prior to its world premiere, FilmNation Entertainment and Bleecker Street acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film in January 2024.[8]

The film will be released on 14 June 2024 theatrically by Bleecker Street.[9]

## Reception[edit]

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes website, the film has an approval rating of 36% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10.[10]

Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph rated the film 2/5 and wrote, "Sombre, sluggish and usually on the right side of respectable, Julia von Heinz’s film eventually bottles its task, coming to mollifying conclusions about the 20th century’s starkest horrors."[11]

Leslie Felperin reviewing the film for The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it as "Oy gevalt!," and opined, "So muddled and misbegotten it’s hard to perform an evidential postmortem, based strictly on one viewing, of where it all goes wrong."[12]

Wendy Ide reviewing the film at Berlinale, wrote in ScreenDaily "Treasure is a curiously inert work, a film that feels as emotionally grey and underlit as its cinematography."[13]

Ben Rolph in AwardsWatch graded the film C and wrote, "Dunham’s connection to the story cannot save her stilted line delivery, every word feels forced as if just read off the page giving a frustrating lack of authenticity in her performance."[14]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Scott Roxborough (20 December 2023). "Berlin Specials Lineup Includes Films From Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Amanda Seyfried and Jesse Eisenberg". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
2. ^ Economou, Vassilis (20 December 2023). "Berlin unveils an exciting array of fresh titles for Berlinale Special and Generation". Cineuropa. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
3. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (12 February 2024). "'Treasure': FilmNation & Bleecker Street Set U.S. Release Date For Berlin World Premiere Starring Lena Dunham & Stephen Fry – First-Look Clip". Deadline. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
4. ^ "Treasure und "Sieger Sein" feiern Weltpremiere im offiziellen Programm der Berlinale 2024" [“Treasure” and “Sieger Sein” celebrate their world premiere in the official program of the Berlinale 2024]. MDM (in German). 20 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
5. ^ "Treasure | Feature Film 2023, Tragicomedy". Crew United. 14 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
6. ^ Rosser, Michael (20 December 2023). "Adam Sandler, Hunter Schafer, Lena Dunham films to world premiere at Berlin 2024". ScreenDaily. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
7. ^ "Treasure". Berlinale. 6 February 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
8. ^ Grobar, Matt (16 January 2024). "FilmNation & Bleecker Street Team For Worldwide Release Of Father-Daughter Drama 'Treasure' Starring Lena Dunham, Stephen Fry". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
9. ^ "Treasure: In Theaters June 14". Bleecker Street. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
10. ^ "Treasure (2024, Drama)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
11. ^ Robey, Tim (18 February 2023). "Treasure: a mollifying portrait of the Holocaust's horrors". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
12. ^ Leslie Felperin (17 February 2024). "'Treasure' Review: Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry Play Daughter and Father in a Misfire of a Holocaust Dramedy". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
13. ^ Ide, Wendy (18 February 2024). "'Treasure': Berlin Review". ScreenDaily. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
14. ^ Rolph, Ben (18 February 2024). "'Treasure' Review: Stephen Fry Can't Save This Poorly Scripted Journey into the Past – Berlinale 2024". AwardsWatch. Retrieved 19 February 2024.

## External links[edit]

* Treasure at IMDb
* Treasure at Rotten Tomatoes
* Treasure at FilmNation
* Treasure at Berlinale