Women rule and animals roam in Roman Zürcher’s human zoo

Ramon Zürcher’s new film, The Sparrow in the Chimney, hits Swiss cinemas this week bringing to a close his Animal Trilogy that turns tight spaces into psychological chess boards. He tells SWI how he makes universal stories out of his chamber pieces. Ramon Zürcher is a rare species in the Swiss film scene. The symbiotic relationship with his twin brother Silvan, as director and producer respectively, follows the same work pattern as that of the brothers Joel and Ethan Cohen. As a queer man, his fixation on the female gaze resembles that of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. And his mastery in setting stories in closeted spaces, such as a small apartment or a tiny kitchen, brings the relationships at play to an almost Ingmar Bergmanesque-depth. But these references only serve the critics, for Zürcher doesn’t need, and doesn’t mention, any of them when talking about his films. We meet him at the Locarno Film Festival last month, where he was presenting The Sparrow in the Chimney, the ...