#809: PETZOLD, Christian: Phoenix (2014)

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PETZOLD, Christian (Germany)
Phoenix [2014]
Spine #809
Blu-ray

This evocative and haunting drama, set in rubble-strewn Berlin in 1945, is like no other film about post-World War II Jewish-German identity. After surviving Auschwitz, a former cabaret singer (Nina Hoss, in a dazzling, multilayered performance) has her disfigured face reconstructed and returns to her war-ravaged home city to seek out her gentile husband, who may or may not have betrayed her to the Nazis. Without recognizing her, he enlists her to play his wife in a bizarre hall-of-shattered-mirrors story that is as richly metaphorical as it is engrossing. Revenge film or tale of romantic reconciliation? One doesn't know until the superb closing scene of this marvel from Christian Petzold, one of the most important figures in contemporary German cinema.

98 minutes
Color
5.1 Surround
in German
2:39:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2016
Director/Writers


Based on motifs from the novel Le retour des cendres by Hubert Monteilhet.
Screenplay by Christian Petzold and Harun Farocki.
Petzold was 54 when he directed Phoenix.

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by critic Michael Koresky.

Commentary

None.

Conversation

Between director Petzold and actor Hoss.

Interview

With DP Hans Fromm.

The Making of “Phoenix”

A 2014 documentary featuring interviews with Petzold, Hoss, actors Kunzendorf and Zehrfeld, and production designer K.D. Gruber.

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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