Aloys (2016) — AI Story Visualization

Plot Analysis Summary

A detached investigator is drawn from surveillance and imagined intimacy toward a first physical act of human closeness.

Story Structure — 5 Plot Phases

A Camera Behind Glass

Aloys works as a distant private investigator and avoids personal contact. After his father's funeral, he becomes unconscious on a bus and wakes to find his camera and tapes gone.

Key Events

• Distant Investigator — Aloys films subjects from a distance and avoids personal contact. Characters: Aloys Location: Aloys's investigative routine
• Father's Funeral — Aloys returns from the funeral of his recently deceased father. Characters: Aloys Location: Funeral and bus ride
• Drunken Bus Sleep — Aloys drinks himself unconscious on the bus ride home. Characters: Aloys Location: Bus
• Tapes Disappear — Aloys wakes and discovers his camera and subject tapes are missing. Characters: Aloys Location: Bus

The Voice With His Tapes

An anonymous female caller claims responsibility for stealing Aloys's recordings and threatens to expose them. His investigative methods fail because the caller remains ahead of him.

Key Events

• Anonymous Threat — A female caller claims she stole the tapes and may send them to filmed subjects. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Aloys's apartment
• Empty Police Threat — Aloys threatens to call the police, but the threat does not stop the caller. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Aloys's apartment
• Clue-Based Pursuit — Aloys applies investigative skills to clues from the caller's conversations. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Aloys's apartment
• Caller Stays Ahead — The caller repeatedly anticipates and mocks Aloys's attempts to identify her. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Telephone conversations

Walking Through Imagination

The caller exchanges the tapes for a telephone hike. Aloys enters an imagined walk through the woods, but the caller later cuts him off when he seeks more contact.

Key Events

• Telephone Hike Proposed — Vera offers a telephone hike in exchange for returning Aloys's tapes. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Telephone conversation
• Imagined Forest Walk — Aloys hesitates, then joins Vera in visualizing a shared walk through the woods. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Imagined woods
• Abrupt Disconnection — Vera angrily ends the conversation when Aloys tries to initiate more hikes. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Telephone conversation

The Neighbor Revealed

Aloys sees his unconscious neighbor taken away and identifies her as Vera, the mysterious caller. He learns about her crisis and begins caring for her home and iguana.

Key Events

• Neighbor Taken Away — Aloys sees his unconscious neighbor being loaded into an ambulance. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Apartment building entrance
• Caller Identified — Using accumulated clues, Aloys realizes that his neighbor Vera is the caller. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Aloys's apartment building
• Vera's Past Revealed — Aloys learns Vera was a zookeeper, lost her job, and attempted suicide. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Hospital information and Vera's home
• Care for Vera's Home — Unsure whether Vera survived, Aloys waters her flowers and feeds her iguana. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Vera's home

A World Without Touch

Vera thanks Aloys from the hospital, and their telephone hikes grow into imagined social and shared spaces. When Vera visits physically, Aloys refuses her entry, then follows her to the hospital after realizing what he has lost.

Key Events

• Hospital Thank You — Hospitalized Vera texts Aloys to thank him for caring for her belongings. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Hospital and telephone messages
• Hikes Resume — Vera hesitantly agrees to repeated telephone hikes with Aloys. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Imagined locations
• Virtual Apartment Party — Aloys invites Vera to an imagined apartment party involving people from his investigations. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Aloys's apartment and imagined party
• Imagined Restaurant Dinner — Aloys physically travels to his favorite restaurant while imagining dinner with Vera. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Aloys's favorite restaurant
• Telephone Zoo Tour — Vera gives Aloys a telephone tour of the zoo where she worked. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Zoo
• Real Visit Refused — Vera visits in person, but Aloys refuses to let her enter. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Aloys's apartment
• Vera Leaves Dejected — Vera leaves disappointed and returns to the hospital. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Aloys's apartment building
• Aloys Follows Vera — The shock of Vera leaving prompts Aloys to overcome his fear and follow her. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Route to the hospital
• Night Hospital Visit — Aloys sneaks into Vera's room and sleeps on the ground beside her bed. Characters: Aloys, Vera Location: Vera's hospital room

Story Breakdown

• Distant Investigator — Aloys begins as a private investigator who observes others without personal involvement.
  • Remote Surveillance — He films his subjects from a distance with a video camera.
  • Social Withdrawal — He ignores apartment residents and avoids contact with Vera.
• Grief And Loss — The death of Aloys's father and the loss of his investigative equipment destabilize his controlled routine.
  • Funeral Journey — Aloys rides home after his father's funeral.
  • Stolen Recordings — He wakes on a bus and discovers his camera and tapes are missing.
• The Anonymous Caller — A female voice uses Aloys's stolen tapes to challenge his investigative authority.
  • Exposure Threat — The caller threatens to send his tapes to the filmed subjects.
  • Failed Identification — Aloys follows clues, but the caller repeatedly stays ahead.
• Imagined Encounters — Telephone hikes allow Aloys and Vera to build a relationship inside shared imagined locations.
  • Forest Telephone Hike — They visualize walking and conversing together through the woods.
  • Virtual Shared Life — They imagine parties, restaurant dinners, and a zoo tour.
• Vera's Vulnerability — Aloys discovers the caller's identity and learns that Vera is hospitalized after a personal crisis.
  • Neighbor Identified — Clues reveal that the caller is Vera, his previously ignored neighbor.
  • Caregiving Gesture — Aloys waters her flowers and feeds her pet iguana.
• Breaking Physical Distance — Aloys initially rejects real contact, but Vera's departure forces him to act beyond imagination.
  • Doorway Rejection — He refuses to let Vera into his apartment during her visit.
  • Hospital Approach — He follows Vera and sleeps beside her hospital bed.

Directed by

Tobias Nölle

Key Cast

• Georg Friedrich — Aloys
• Tilde von Overbeck — Vera
• Kamil Krejčí — Herr Schoch
• Yufei Lee — Yen Lee
• Koi Lee — Herr Lee