Germany/Poland – Drama – Year: 2014 – Running time: 98 min
Audience feedback: Rating: 
(3.58 from 38 responses)
- ‘Excellent’: 11 votes
- ‘Very Good’: 12 votes
- ‘Good’: 6 votes
- ‘Satisfactory’: 6 votes
- ‘Poor’: 3 votes
From the director of the critically acclaimed Barbara, comes a searing tale of a disfigured concentration camp survivor, given a new face after suffering traumatic injuries during her internment, now seeking to find her husband who may, or may not, have betrayed her to the Nazis. But will he recognise her? A dark, intricate and psychologically complex film noir, dealing with Germany’s troubled society in the wake of World War ll.
Petzold’s best film, and an early contender for one of the year’s finest.
David Jenkins (Little White Lies)
Director: Christian Petzold
Barbara (2012), Yella (2007) / The State I Am In (2000)
Film notes (ed. Mark Miller)
Audience feedback
Discussion forum
UK Reviews:
The Independent (Geoffrey McNab)
Time Out (Cath Clarke)
The plot story was sound but the execution in the form of the ‘new face’ made the whole thing implausible and required the filmgoer to suspend their credulty. However, in my view the film was worth seeing and enjoying for four aspects of the film. First the portrayal of Nelly was excellent. The fragile nature of Nelly’s body and mind heart rending as she tried to recover both and deal with the nagging questions lurking in the background. Second the beautiful and haunting melody that permeated the film. It’s still,ringing in my ears. Third the picture of Johnny coming to the realisation that it really was Nelly there. The question remained was the look of dispare because of his betrayal or because he had just lost his share of the fortune. Fourth but not least we were left at the end with the intriguing and tantalising question what would Nelly do. Would she go ahead and shoot Johnny? Would she admit she knew everything, including the divorce and let him suffer the consequences or just may be,she would carry on with the pretence. Love is a precious comodity and there are many women who have forgiven if not forgotten their husband’s past sins. My money would be on the last option.