Eismayer

Eismayer is an Austrian drama centred on Vice Lieutenant Charles Eismayer, the most feared training instructor in the country's armed forces and a man who carefully projects the image of an unfeeling macho. In private, he lives as a gay man, a fact he keeps hidden because it conflicts with everything he believes a soldier should be. His carefully maintained world is disturbed by the arrival of Mario Falak, a new recruit who is openly gay, refuses to be intimidated and stands up to him. The tension between the two men gradually forces Eismayer to confront the gap between his public persona and his private life. The film is based on a true story.

The film was released in 2022 and runs 87 minutes. It was directed by David Wagner, who also wrote the screenplay; it is the first feature he directed, followed by Schnee von gestern in 2024. Gerhard Liebmann plays Eismayer, with Luka Dimic as Mario Falak. Julia Koschitz, Anton Noori, Christopher Schärf and Karl Fischer appear in supporting roles, among a credited cast of 24. It was produced by Arash T. Riahi and Sabine Gruber, with Golden Girls Filmproduktion among the production companies and Austrian, French and German partners involved.

Audience response has been solid and consistent: on IMDb it holds a rating of 7 out of 10 from around 3,000 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 7 out of 10 from 63 votes. The larger vote count on IMDb, together with the smaller and equally positive sample on TMDB, points to a film that has found a modest but favourable audience beyond its home country.