Veteran Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner makes films that question conventional beliefs and reveal the absurdities that these beliefs create. Her journey began in earnest with her fourth feature, Lourdes (2009), a film about faith in God, and has become more colorful and refined with Amour Fou (2014) and Little Joe (2019). Her latest film, Club Zero, which premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, takes a unique approach to the subject of “conscious eating” and questions the trust between teachers, parents, and students (children). The misplaced trust between a nutrition teacher and her students puts the students at risk, and the film chillingly captures the ironic reality that the idle school and the irresponsible parents ultimately force them to go back to the problematic teacher and rely on her to solve this absurdity. It’s an eerie, sophisticated fable that teeters on the edge of faith and doubt. (JO Ji-hoon)