A beating heart

How far would you go to prove your love when a family pushes your limits beyond reason? In 1990s Athens, shy 19-year-old Argyris finds himself unexpectedly dating Mary, a beautiful girl seemingly out of his league. When she invites him to her parents’ secluded country home, the weekend quickly spirals into something far darker. Her parents, claiming to protect their fragile daughter, insist on putting Argyris through a series of increasingly bizarre and brutal tests to prove his worth. The deeper Argyris goes, the more the family’s dysfunctional dynamics come to light, transforming his visit into a twisted game of survival, where he realises that nothing about this family – or Mary herself – is what it seems. Aided by powerfully sinister performances, atmospheric cinematography and a suspensefully eerie score, “Buzzheart” carefully balances thriller, horror, and dark comedy to craft a slow-burning, tense exploration of love, manipulation, and control. Massimo Iannetti