Phoenix

"Phoenix" (2014 release from Germany; 98 min.) brings the story of Nelly (played by Nona Hoss). As the movie opens, we see a badly injured Nelly being driven to the hospital for facial reconstruction. Upon entering Berlin's American Zone, the US guard forces Nelly to remove the bandage, which she does, to the belated horror of the guard. After the facial reconstruction (or "re-creation" as her friend Lene calls it), Nelly only has a fleeting resemblance of her old self. Eventually Nelly goes looking for her husband Johnny. When she locates him, he does not recognize her, but instead he asks her to pretend to be Nelly, so as to be able to claim Nelly's family inheritance. At this time we are 15 min, into the movie, but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from German director Christian Petzhold, who previously has brought masterpieces like Barbara, Yerichow, Yella (all of which also star Noina Hoss), The State I Am In, and Gespenster. Petzhold is in my opinion one of Europe's most important and best directors, period. "Phoenix" touches many aspects: there is the immediate aftermath of WWII, and the enormous scars (physical, mental, and other) incurred by the Jewish people who managed to somehow survive; then there is the psychological mind games played by both Johnny and Nelly (did Johnny betray Nelly during the war? is Nelly betraying Johnny now?). It all plays out brilliantly. Check out the movie's final scene (no worries, I won't spoil), which stunned me and everyone else in the theater. Nina Hoss, in her 4th collaboration with Petzhold, brings another daring and touching performance as the shattered and brittle Nelly. Wow, just wow.

Even though this movie is a year old, it just now found its way to my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. Better later than never, I suppose. I couldn't wait to see "Phoenix". The matinée screening where I saw this at this weekend was PACKED, somewhat to my surprise and delight. If you like a top-notch quality foreign movie that will stay with you long after you've seen it, you cannot go wrong with this, be it at the theater, on Amazon Instant Video, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. "Phoenix" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Hubert Monteilhet's novel has been filmed three times I saw two of them. The 1960's Return From The Ashes and this one, Phoenix (2014) - the one I haven't seen is a TV version from the 1980's Le retour d'Elisabeth Wolff, but now I really want to see it. Phoenix is a moody, painful journey to a rebirth. Nina Hoss is lovely as the survivor, Ronald Zehofeld plays the husband, object of her obsession. He's an interesting actor, a mix between Benicio del Toro and the young Orson Welles. Their scenes together have a realistic, tangible suspense. But Christian Petzold, the director of Jerichow (2008), gives the whole film a severe pace and tone, the 1964 version has a sharp, sophisticated script by Julius J Epstein with titles like Casablanca to his credit and J Lee Thompson at the helm, Thompson directed films like The Guns Of Navarone, Cape Fear and What A Way To Go. So his version, Return From The Ashes, is a whole other experience, at time it's even funny. With a superlative international cast cast, Maximilian Schell, Ingrid Thulin and Samantha Eggar - So one can see both films as it they weren't even related.

This could have been a disaster. The premise (which I will not spoil, but is easy to find) takes some swallowing, but director Petzold and star Hess get you over the initial bump to set up a situation of great tension. The difficulty then becomes resolving that satisfactorily - and when I saw Nina Hess introduce this movie at the London Film Festival, she said that initially they weren't sure how to end it - but they pull off an absolutely bravura climax to the tale, an unforgettable scene, cinema at its finest.

Hess is brilliant in the central role, a really difficult part that she makes absolutely convincing. The other star here is the cinematography. There are other fine moments too - a really creepy scene early on full of women with bandaged faces - that help set the atmosphere. But the real thrill is to see a story told with such conviction and concluded with such panache.

"Tomorrow is here, tomorrow is near and always too soon." Kurt Weill

Even if you're a disfigured Holocaust survivor like Nelly (Nina Hoss), tomorrow's march of time will bring its own survival scenario. Her new face gives her problems with her husband, Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld), as he recruits her to impersonate his wife in order to get his wife's inheritance. As in Hitchcock's Vertigo, the lead female undergoes transformation dealing with the man in her life while sustaining the mistaken identity motif.

Even that plot feels Hitchcockean. No question it's a classic suspend-your-disbelief situation, and it has the almost dreamy quality of Boy in the Striped Pajama. Both works take an isolated, unbelievable scenario related to the Holocaust that nevertheless illuminates the numbing, existential anguish of that horror.

While Nelly searches for Johnny, she is also discovering strength in herself that is part survival and part recognition that the corruption of Auschwitz is not the only corruption in the world. The depiction of that dark postwar world has German expressionism written all over it with the black and white contrasts, lonely European streets and even the corruption and irony of the cabaret.

Nina Hoss's performance, part stunned and part determined, deserves award-season recognition. Her uncertain gait and disfigured face suggest the disorientation the war has brought.

Director Christian Petzold deserves credit for the stunning noirish look that also reflects a real-world, anytime struggle humans have with the combat between appearance and reality and the realization that we cannot know each other completely. As the title suggests and the name of the night club reflects, regeneration is possible but may be as elusive as the mythical bird.

"No movie has ever been able to provide a catharsis for the Holocaust, and I suspect none will ever be able to provide one for 9/11. Such subjects overwhelm art." Roger Ebert

Adapted from Hubert Monteilhet's novel 'Return from the Ashes,' director Christian Petzold's Phoenix has the air of a revisionist war film with a science-fiction twist. Granted, it has some liberties in the supposed advancement of medical science for the 1940s, featuring a surgery that's not even really possible today, but with its stark approach to its pulpy atmosphere, it's easy to buy into anything it wants to do because of its compelling narrative.

The film follows Nelly, played by Nina Hoss, a Jewish concentration camp survivor and former nightclub singer who's suffered severe disfigurement. She undergoes facial reconstruction, nearly looking like her old self, and tries to find peace with her lost previous identity. She heads to post-war Berlin to locate her estranged husband and partner in their former activism, played by Ronald Zehrfeld, but upon doing so he recruits her to help him on a scam to claim his wife's inheritance. As she looks almost alike, he moulds her to act like his wife did and have her 'return' and scoop up the money.

There's another liberty you have to buy in order to go along with Phoenix. That being, despite all the hints, at no point does her husband Johnny recognize Nelly until the inevitable moment. This redressing of a former lover plot line is quite reminiscent of Hitchcock's Vertigo, but with Johnny's indifference and greed it's a different spin, and we observe Nelly's submissive re- judgment of him. It thrives on the dramatic irony of when Johnny thinks that she isn't acting enough like his wife. It's fascinating to watch her rediscover herself, and a delight when she impresses him with how accurate she can be at times. All these minor contrivances work thematically to build a picture of a search for identity and heartbreaking betrayal. It's a refreshing perspective on a revision of a past life and then healing from it.

Christian Petzold and Nina Hoss' collaborations have been steadily building momentum as Phoenix, their 4th film together, gains buzz on the festival circuit. Clearly it is a beneficial partnership. Through her glassy eyed look nearly in tears and her anxious movements, Hoss faultlessly marries fragility with a burning motivation to disquiet her soul. She may be easily manipulated due to her weakened psychological and physical state, but she always has intentions that she's slowly building up to. Before taking board with her husband, she's assisted by Lene, played by Nina Kunzendorf, a fellow Jewish activist. Her performance is steely and enigmatic, and I can't help but want to know more about her and her motivations so it's a shame the film doesn't quite deliver in that regard.

Often times the film holds back on payoff, although it's often executed in thoughtful manners. Most strikingly is in the film's conclusion. In a way, it almost feels as though it's missing an entire third act. Perhaps the director felt it did not need an epilogue, but I was left hungry to explore the consequences. Hoss does admit that they didn't know how to end it. However, it is a remarkable display of restraint to leave it as open as it did and frankly it works with the slight nature of the film beforehand. But on the other hand it feels like Petzold simply ran out of ideas and is idly leaving the viewer to fill in the rest. The film constantly feels like it's building to something, and the ending changes everything in hindsight, but perhaps it works in the film's favour, to draw a comparison to The Sopranos' infamous final moment as it leaves you cold.

Despite the film's small scale, with most of it taking place in Johnny's small apartment, it does show off lush production design. Postwar rubble has never felt quite a mess like this since Saving Private Ryan. The film does try to take on a grander scale, implying that the formation of Israel is like Nelly and reborn from the ashes, but it works best when it's focused on the core relationship. The saturated but vivid cinematography contributes to its beguiling pulp tone and it holds a lot of tension in the air, complimenting the weight of the performances. It's a fascinating concept and well-executed script, and my only reservations with Phoenix come with its choice of the resolutions for its various plot threads. But these are up for debate, and they're ones worth engaging in for such an otherwise stellar and quietly affecting film.

8/10

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