‘Treasure’ Review: Stephen Fry Can’t Save This Poorly Scripted Journey into the Past | Berlinale 2024

There is something innately intriguing about the lives our ancestors led, many do ancestry searches and DNA tests but some go to the source to figure out their past. This is what Lena Dunham’s Ruth does in Treasure, German director Julia von Heinz’s latest feature about self-exploration and intergenerational trauma. 

Following the fall of the Iron Curtain and the dissolution of Soviet control of Poland in 1991, New York-born music journalist Ruth (Lena Dunham) takes a trip to the country where her generations of her family come from. Joining Ruth is her father Edek (Stephen Fry), a jolly yet quietly troubled holocaust survivor. Their journey gets off to a sour start as Ruth looks for her father at the Warsaw airport, who seemingly missed his flight from New York as she’s been waiting for him in a Polish hotel for days. 

The two embark on a tour of Poland, visiting key locations where Ruth is sure she will find answers to her family’s traumatic, yet mysterious history as Polish Jews. Fry’s Edek is a closed-off man, he never kept any memorabilia from his young life in Poland and told very little to his now 36-year-old daughter. Having settled in the USA and leaving Poland behind, Edek is very wary about what Ruth will uncover, physically and emotionally, which is the reason he returns to his homeland for the first time since leaving after World War II. The journey takes them from Warsaw to Łódź, her father’s hometown, then Krakow before ultimately heading to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

Treasure feels deeply personal, it’s clear there’s a whole lot of care when it comes to handling such sensitive subject matter. Dunham and Fry themselves are deeply connected to the roles they play, with both of them being of Jewish descent. Fry’s family went through the same trauma as Hungarian Jews, so it’s clear why Fry might’ve taken the role, perhaps as a form of therapy for himself. For Dunham, at times, it feels deeply personal the journey that her character goes on, is almost as if she were living it out.

But 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. Fry brings his usual charisma as the Polish-speaking Edek, he plays him as a gruff, no-it-all local who cares more for women and drinking than catering to his daughter’s travel plans during their time in Poland. But there is a soft heart beneath the weathered clothes he wears, caring for his daughter in the only way he knows how, she just doesn’t understand the way he handles the pain of revisiting all his terrible memories. 

Not all the blame can be thrown at the performers because it’s the director’s job to steer the ship, directing the actors in a way that works for each individual project. Here, Heinz demonstrates a lack of control when it comes to getting believable and sincere performances out of her actors, including the rest of the ensemble cast. Another facet of the film that lacks is Daniela Knapp’s cinematography that has only brief flashes to shine. The most impactful image occurs at Auschwitz with a haunting wide-shot that lingers as the characters drive away, apart from that nothing else is anything better than average.

Another layer of the film is the stark difference between Polish people living in the country to Dunham’s Polish-American character. Ruth comes from a place of privilege due to the life her parents gave her in America, as opposed to the harsh reality of living in cities like Łódź in Poland. The culture shock element is inherently fascinating as a person who relates to being born elsewhere but returning to what’s supposed to be your family’s homeland. She has a lot of adjusting to do and being a non-Polish speaker doesn’t help her during tricky moments, but that relates to the trauma many immigrants face when escaping their countries, forcing their kids to blend into their newfound home and speak the local language.

There is a fair bit to admire with Julia von Heinz’s Treasure, on paper it’s an impactful tale but the execution is rather shabby with poor writing, stilted performances and lacklustre filmmaking. It’s easy to roll your eyes at the cringey, unbelievable dialogue, especially during the scenes where Dunham and Fry throw jabs back and forth. Cutting some of this and including more emotive moments where the film explores their inexplicable grief perhaps would’ve made the film far more rewarding.

Grade: C+

This review is from the 74th Berlin International Film Festival where Treasure world premiered in the Berlinale Special Gala section.