It's a hot and suffocating weekend in the suburbs of Vienna somewhere between the autobahn and the exitroads, the supermarkets and new housing tracts. During these dog days of Summer, six interwoven stories unfold, revealing a world of disillusionment, loneliness and frustration. While the days are lazy and melancholic, spent sunning; the nights stepped in alcohol, sex and song, unleash a fury of violence and raw emotions. With no respite from the oppressive heat, tensions build and tempers explode. This is life at its most vulnerable and intimate; it's the horror and beauty of being human.

Anna the Hitchhiker spends her time in supermarket parking lots where she approaches strangers, listing off the ten most common ailments or other top ten lists and hitching rides to nowhere in particular all day long. Anna holds nothing back, which tends to provoke people. People think she is crazy, maybe she is.

Mr. Hruby, an alarm systems salesman, sweats alot. He drives around, goes door to door and tells people about the risks of burglaries. Then he is recruited to catch a vandal who has been defacing cars. He looks for a victim and finds Anna.

Klaudia is young and fragile, a onetime beauty queen. Her boyfriend Mario is a sexy hunk who loves her and fast cars. One night they go out to a disco together but the evening ends in jealousy and violence. The next day the same scene happens again: tenderness followed by jealousy followed by violence.

The Greek and his wife are divorced, but they still live in the same house. Each is waiting for the other to move out. Meanwhile they live their separate lives, side by side, without speaking to each other. But when one of the wife's casual lovers turns up, confrontation occurs.

Mr. Walter, the old man, loves his dog and is a control freak. He obsessively controls the weight of the groceries he buys, he controls his housekeeper and the noise level of his environment. For his 50th wedding anniversary he's planning a special celebration, but not with his wife.

A middle aged teacher pretties herself up, shaves and poses. When Wickerel, her lover, a sleazy pimpish sort of guy some 20 years her junior, pays her an evening visit, he unexpectedly brings a friend. The evening is full of games, singing, alcohol and sex, but ends in excess and violence. The next morning the young friend of the women's lover returns repentant and ready to seek vengeance for the humiliated teacher.

Nine Questions for Ulrich Seidl

More about the Cast

Indiewire Interview with the Director

Winner: Grand Jury Prize Venice Film Festival

"Mr. Seidl has done something that sits in your head; his movie feels both flamboyant and deadpan. With 'Dog Days,' which achieves a verisimilitude that most directors would envy, he has made an engrossing and disturbing film that feels like a Dogma 95 film made by Todd Haynes."
-Elvis Mitchell, THE NEW YORK TIMES

**** (4 Stars) "Extraordinary fiction feature debut...a remarkable work by a brilliant filmmaker"
-Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"A Triumph! Obscenely rich with memorable moments and extraordinary characters"
FILM COMMENT

"It is simply so distinctive, such remarkable filmmaking, that it compels admiration"
-Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN (London)