L'oeuvre sans auteur

It's a 3 hours movie but you don't perceive so long. The plot is great. The story is well depicted. The actors are very good.

The soundtrack as well so great. Very touching in some moments.

I didn't know that Germans were so good in making movies.

It's another story totally different than Dr Zivago but great as well.

I strongly recommend to watch it. Strongly.

This captivating and moving movie is essentially based on encounters, fortuitous or not, of good omen or not, in Germany, GDR and then FRG.

Professor Carl Seeband (Sebastian Koch) is a brilliant gynecologist, cold and completely devoid of empathy. His 'talent' will enable him to become an imminent member of the Nazi Party and to actively work in the eugenics process in order to improve the 'racial hygiene'. Kurt Barnert (Tom Schilling) is a young artist whose inspiration seems to be animated by repressed memories of his aunt Elisabeth May (Saskia Rosendahl), who mysteriously lost her mind during the rise of Nazism in the 30s, then silently 'disappeared' just before the Second World War: Elizabeth's fate will end at a fatal meeting with Professor Carl Seeband. A few years later, Kurt Barnert will accidentally fall in love with Ellie Seeband (Paula Beer), the only daughter of Professor Carl Seeband.

Freely inspired by the life of Gerhard Richter, the film describes the three decades of a black and then red Germany, struck by two destructive ideologies, before being sold to capitalism. Without reaching the near-perfectness of La Vie des autres (2006), this film is excellent: casting of first choice, neat photography, dialogues skillfully written, captivating scenario, a clever mix of sensual and sweet scenes alternately with cold and depressing other ones, ... As a synthesis: 8 of 10

"Never Look Away" is essentially a film about three characters: a young artist, based on the life of Gerhard Richter, his wife, and his wife's father, a former Nazi who worked as a doctor committed to "purifying" the German race. So with the focus held so tightly on just three characters, it may seem surprising that it takes three hours to tell the story. But this film never left the feeling that too much was being told. It is a masterpiece of ideal personal relationships set against a background of truly evil and destructive behavior.

The story begins with the artist as a young boy in the care of his devoted but slightly strange aunt. We follow the artist into young adulthood and into a marriage that faces unique challenges. He carries with him his aunt's plea to "never look away."

While this tale begins at the onset of the Nazi era, much of what is presented is relevant to our contemporary world, though those political parallels are not drawn explicitly in the film.

Released in 2018, this film was honored with many award nominations and a few wins. Because of subtitles and a length of three hours, "Never Look Away" did not lend itself well to American tastes or to wide theatrical distribution. It is available on DVD or streaming and should not be missed.

It is one of films who you just feel. Only feel. Because it is about family, past, Nazi regime, cold adaptation to the new realities, love, cinism and survive, art, truth and parenthood, about happiness and about be yourself. A beautiful film, many memorable scenes, great Sebastian Koch and Tom Willing and the fair story. And, no doubts, magnificent portraits . A film who, if you are real honest to yourself, can be only about you.

I watched this at home on BluRay from my public library. My wife skipped, she doesn't like to see movies with subtitles.

I studied German for two years in college, while I can't converse in it anymore I was able to fit the German dialog with the English subtitles.

While there are several intersecting stories the main thread is Kurt, a boy of 8 in 1937 Nazi Germany, being exposed to various forms of art by his 20-something aunt. As he grows, and WW2 comes and goes, he develops into a quite good painter. He eventually has to escape to West Berlin to be free to develop his talents. The story extends through the 1960s.

Part of the overlapping story is of the Nazi programs to purify their race, to see to it that even Germans who had some sort of affliction were terminated, and this was the fate of his aunt who had the occasional emotional malfunction. As it turns out Kurt unwittingly marries the daughter of one of the evil doctors who it seems had named his daughter Elizabeth, the same as Kurt's aunt.

This is a really good movie and at just over 3 hours didn't seem overly long, I can't think of any scene that I would cut. However I watched it over three different sessions with some overlap each time. In the extra on the disc the writer/director explains, in English, how he modeled his story off a real German artist who developed through this same period.