"Phoenix" is the title of Christian
Petzold's film and the phoenix who rises from the ashes is Nelly, a
concentration camp survivor whose face has been so badly disfigured that
it requires reconstruction. When it is reconstructed it is very much in
the form of the original and yet her husband still doesn't recognise
her. However, he sees a sufficient resemblance to get her to play the
part of herself, his wife returned, as it were, from the dead simply to
get his hands on her inheritance.
Set immediately after the end
of the Second World War Petzold's film works best as a thriller in the
Hitchcock mould, (think "Vertigo"), rather than as a serious study of
post-war German guilt. There are really only three main characters;
Nelly, her husband, (Phoenix is also the name of the club where he
works), and her friend who has brought her back to something resembling
civilisation. On a realistic level it's a little hard to swallow though
the denouement is very nicely arrived at and Nina Hoss is excellent as
Nelly. It's certainly worth seeing but I don't think it's quite the
'serious' picture critics have made it out to be.
Set immediately after the end
of the Second World War Petzold's film works best as a thriller in the
Hitchcock mould, (think "Vertigo"), rather than as a serious study of
post-war German guilt. There are really only three main characters;
Nelly, her husband, (Phoenix is also the name of the club where he
works), and her friend who has brought her back to something resembling
civilisation. On a realistic level it's a little hard to swallow though
the denouement is very nicely arrived at and Nina Hoss is excellent as
Nelly. It's certainly worth seeing but I don't think it's quite the
'serious' picture critics have made it out to be.
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