Phoenix

Shortly after the end of World War II, Jewish Nelly has to undergo plastic surgery because her face became deformed while escaping from a concentration camp. She then travels to the ruins of Berlin in the hope of finding her husband, Johnny. The question of whether he betrayed her to the Nazis is eating away at her. In the midst of this confusing no-man’s-land where nothing is left of her old life, Johnny seems not to recognise her. But he decides to bring her in on a plan.
Christian Petzold (Jerichow, Barbara), who also penned the intelligent script, tells a powerful, tense and emotional story, assisted by his excellent lead actress, Nina Hoss (Yella, Barbara), and the beautiful set design. What is the effect on your identity of such a traumatic period, in which friends and lovers are forced into the role of perpetrator or victim? What survives after such a devastating war? Love? Revenge? Hope, perhaps?
With Big Talk on Friday 30/1 in the cinema of Oude Luxor.