Phoenix
Phoenix • 1h 38m
Directed by Christian Petzold • 2014 • Germany
Starring Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf
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 hometown 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 preposterously 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.
Up Next in Phoenix
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Christian Petzold and Nina Hoss on PH...
One of the greatest director-actor pairs in contemporary cinema, Christian Petzold and his leading lady, Nina Hoss, have work on six films together since 2001. In this conversation, recorded in Berlin in 2016, the two delve into their working process, the evolution of their collaboration, and the...
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Hans Fromm on PHOENIX
In this interview, filmed in Berlin in January 2016, cinematographer Hans Fromm describes the inspiration for the lush noir look of PHOENIX, and how his relationship with director Christian Petzold has evolved over the course of their two decades of collaboration.
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The Making of PHOENIX
This 2014 documentary features interviews with PHOENIX director Christian Petzold; actors Nina Hoss, Nina Kunzendorf, and Ronald Zehrfeld; and production designer K. D. Gruber.
