Shadows of Wealth and Secrets: The Story Behind The Privilege
Not all secrets of a family can be buried. The Privilege (Das Privileg) is a German supernatural thriller that came on Netflix in 2022. It is not just a story of young individuals being pursued by demonic forces, but also a story that addresses trauma, the burdens of privilege, and the struggle of breaking free from generational control. It is stories like these that weigh upon the audience and, in the case of The Privilege, the viewers are likely expected to appreciate the story not just from the plot but also from the real journeys of the actors. Behind every scream, every horrified glance, and every act of defiance are real stories, struggles, and triumphs that the actors lived.
A Family Where Comfort Hides Darkness
The film starts with young Finn witnessing the death of his sister, thus being subjected to horror that he will have to bear for the rest of his life. Fast forward to Finn as a teenager, portrayed by Max Schimmelpfennig, who lives in a prosperous family and struggles with trauma that, he, and the wealthy family around him, seems to deteriorate to curing with medication. His family dismisses his nightmares as something that cannot be talked about.
But the horror he experiences is real, and so begins the unmasking of the elite world he occupies. Finn’s life is filled with strange pills, unsettling rituals, and ominous dark figures. Finn, his best friend Lena (Lea van Acken) and his girlfriend Samira (Tijan Marei) investigate further to unearth that his family and other powerful members of his society are part of a cult that implants parasitic demons into the younger generation to preserve power.
The climax is the chilling culmination of this dark narrative. No less than his family’s love, loyalty, and control are twisted and corrupt, exposing Finn to a chilling reality of privilege. How much of what we inherit is our own is the uncomfortable contemplation the film provokes.
Max Schimmelpfennig: Carrying Trauma Into Art
Portraying Finn is a particularly challenging assignment. Max Schimmelpfennig’s talent was already proven with his role in Netflix’s first German original series, Dark. In Dark, he played a teenager caught in a web of time and destiny while in The Privilege, he had to carry a much harder role — trauma buried under a wealth in the social elite.
Max’s own life journey made this role deeply personal. Born in Berlin, he has often spoken about being an outsider in the acting world at first, not having the family connections or the privileged background many assume actors have. His rise was through theatre, long auditions, and countless rejections. That sense of fighting against an invisible system mirrored Finn’s struggles against a family that refuses to hear him.
On set, Max reportedly spent time alone before heavy scenes, shutting himself off from co-stars to carry Finn’s loneliness into the performance. This method gave authenticity to the quiet breakdowns Finn suffers on screen—moments that feel heartbreakingly real.
Lea van Acken: From War’s Shadows to Horror’s Darkness
As Lena, Finn’s rebellious best friend, Lea van Acken brings sharpness and courage to the story. But her strength on screen isn’t just an act—it comes from her own extraordinary journey.
Lea gained international attention for playing Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank (2016), a role that required a maturity far beyond her years. Having stepped into the shoes of a girl hiding from one of history’s darkest regimes, Lea learned early on what it meant to portray trauma with dignity. That experience followed her into The Privilge.
While Lena often cracks jokes or challenges authority, there is also an underlying understanding in her eyes, an acknowledgment of how systems of power suffocate individuals. Lea once said in an interview that she is drawn to characters who defy control, because “that’s where stories live—when someone says no.” It’s a sentiment that fits both Anne Frank and Lena perfectly.
Tijan Marei: Redefining Identity On and Off Screen
Tijan Marei, who plays Samira, brings a different energy—warmth mixed with vulnerability. She herself is of German-Sudanese descent, and growing up biracial in Germany, she often spoke about how identity became a complicated subject. Roles weren’t always written for someone like her, but she crafted her own path by choosing meaningful characters that were far removed from the stereotypes.
In The Privilege, Samira is torn between love, fear, and betrayal, as is Tijan, who is attempting to find a space where she fits. Reports indicate that she and Max collaborated to portray their characters in a way that moved beyond the simplicity of teenage romance to a more profound relationship, as the central horror of the story focused on a boy and a girl trying to trust one another amid a web of deceit.
Creative Decisions and Filming Secrets
Unlike the construction of horror films in “glossy” Hollywood, which is predominantly funded, The Privilege had a more Germanic-spending precision blend of practical effects and budget. A number of the grotesque parasites designed for the film did not rely on excessive CGI, but rather on real-life prosthetic monstrosities which actors had to wear for lengthy and discomforting hours. Max joked during one of the promotional interviews that filming horror scenes at 3 a.m. in an empty German mansion was “worse than any nightmare” and that the mansion felt as though it were haunted. The crew created tension in the atmosphere by using natural shadows instead of artificial lighting.
A little-known fact: the exterior family house in the film was a real location outside of Hamburg, and for its design. The actors also felt that the house was a character in the film and that it was watching them, in addition to its orchestrating beauty and control, which the house suffocating.
Why It Hit Deeper Than a Horror Film
Horror films in India typically communicate social messages through the use of spirits, curses, folklore, and the like. Although set in Germany, The Privilege resonates culturally in the same way—it deals with the dark side of affluence, the sacrifices tradition demands, and the quiet responsibility placed on the young to take on an inheritance they never asked for.
Young people in India connect with Finn’s struggle for the acknowledgment of his truth, relevant in Berlin, Delhi, or Mumbai. Many Indian viewers on social media remarked that the film felt like an allegory for families forcing children to follow prescribed paths in careers, marriages, or lifestyles “for the sake of the legacy.”
A Tale That Stays After the Screen Goes Dark
By the time the credits roll, The Privilege leaves viewers feeling unsettled, and not just because there were no jump scares. The film powerfully depicts how love and power can become corrupted. For Max Schimmelpfennig, Lea van Acken, and Tijan Marei, this was more than just another horror project. It mirrored their own battles with defiance, identity, and survival.
While the movie is presented as supernatural horror, underneath it is a truth familiar to each Indian home: without empathy, privilege is yet another form a haunting. In presenting this narrative, the young performers sacrificed parts of themselves, transforming a spine-tingling thriller into a reflection of reality.
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