Plot
A disfigured concentration-camp survivor (Nina Hoss), unrecognizable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches ravaged postwar Berlin for the husband (Ronald Zehrfeld) who might have betrayed her to the Nazis.
Release Year: 2014
Rating: 7.2/10 (2,796 voted)
Critic's Score: 92/100
Director: Christian Petzold
Stars: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf
Storyline
Nelly Lenz, a Jewish singer, has survived the Nazi concentration camps but at what cost? She is disfigured and has had to undergo facial surgery. Back in what is left of Berlin, accompanied by her faithful friend Lene, she has only one thing in mind, finding Johnny, her musician husband in the ruins of the city. She wants to know if he still loves her and if he has betrayed her, as Lene claims he has. She does meet him but Johnny does not recognize her. Worse, he asks her to impersonate... Nelly, with a view to grabbing her inheritance
Writers: Christian Petzold, Harun Farocki
Cast: Nina Hoss -
Nelly Lenz
Ronald Zehrfeld -
Johannes 'Johnny'
Nina Kunzendorf -
Lene Winter
Michael Maertens -
Arzt
Imogen Kogge -
Elisabeth
Kirsten Block -
Uwe Preuss -
Clubbesitzer
Eva Bay -
Tänzerin
Jeff Burrell -
Sofia Exss -
Zigarettenmädchen
Megan Gay -
Mitarbeiterin Zentralstelle
Claudia Geisler-Bading -
Frederike
Daniela Holtz -
Sigrid
Max Hopp -
Nikola Kastner -
Junge Frau
Filming Locations: Kirchmöser, Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg, Germany
Technical Specs
Runtime:
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User Review
Author:
Rating: 9/10
Will the references to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo never end? A very
blatant citation is in David Lynch's Twin Peaks, with Sheryl Lee
playing both blonde victim Laura Palmer and her cousin, brunette
doppelganger Madeleine. Before and after that, there have been several
instances, some more successful than others.
Christian Petzold's glorious war drama, "Phoenix", falls firmly into
the first category.
Disfigured Jewish musician Nelly Lenz (the ever luminous Nina Hoss) has
to undergo a painful facial reconstruction, after having survived the
horror of the concentration camps.
Helped by close friend Lene (Nina Kunzendorf), Nelly slowly comes back
to life, but her main goal is to find her beloved husband, Johnny
(Ronald Zehrfeld).
We are at the end of World War II and Berlin is nothing but a heap of
rubble. People roam the streets aimlessly and, among the destruction
and the uncertainty, there is a sense of a nation having lost its
identity.
Nelly looks at herself in a mirror and sees a stranger and when Lene
tells her "You're Jewish", as if to assert at least one undeniable
truth, Nelly refuses to accept it. The only thing that tethers her to
reality is the love for her lost husband and she stumbles on him by
chance, working as a busboy at the Phoenix cabaret. He doesn't
recognise her, but acknowledges a passing resemblance to his allegedly
dead wife. Nelly is heartbroken, but doesn't have the courage to reveal
the truth.
Johannes (who is not Jewish and no longer wants to be called Johnny)
knows that his wife has an unclaimed fortune in a Swiss bank, so he
devises a plan – and here's the Vertigo nod – to transform this
stranger into his dead wife. Nelly agrees to the plan, hoping that by
living at such close quarters, he will eventually discover her real
identity. He doesn't.
Even when it becomes quite evident that, as Lene suggested, he'd
betrayed her to the Nazis, Nelly keeps her side of the bargain, growing
more confident as she resumes her former identity, as she struggles to
be the woman she no longer is.
The finale is powerful and moving: I won't reveal it, but I'll just say
that it involves a tattoo and a Kurt Weill song. It will stay with you
long after the words "the end".
The premise of "Phoenix" is obviously rather far fetched, but the
acting, cinematography and direction are all stunning and I am quite
surprised the film has not been more widely praised (I was expecting it
to get an Oscar nod).
Nina Hoss, who is a Petzold regular and was great in "Barbara", gives a
career-best performance, fine-tuning the metamorphosis of the character
from haggard and desperate concentration camp victim to brittle, yet
strong and confident survivor. A real Phoenix, rising from the ashes of
a past that can no longer be recreated.
Ronald Zehrfeld, who also starred in "Barbara", is wonderful as
Johannes, a man whose refusal to see what's in front of his eyes is
steadfast at first, but slowly crumbles as the film unfolds, and
finally collapses in an emotional reveal that the actor depicts with
understated emotional mastery.
But the real star of the film is the director, the fantastic Christian
Petzold, who has crafted a moving, intelligent and unforgettable story,
one that never tries to cheaply tug at your heartstrings.
Regardless of his historical setting, it's a universal tale that tells
of how we all strive for identity and meaning and of how, in the face
of the worst possible betrayal, we can still find the strength to turn
the page and start over a new chapter in our lives.
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