In German filmmaker Christian Petzold’s PHOENIX Nina Hoss plays Nelly Lenz, a disfigured concentration camp survivor, unrecognisable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches ravaged post war Berlin for her husband Johnny Lenz, played by Ronald Zehrfeld, who she suspects betrayed her to the Nazis.
My take:- This was a macabre, muddy, ruinous post war broken Germany dance of survival. The film was part lesbian romance…part roads not taken story…part a partner has his ‘true colours’ revealed. Old photos with crosses and circles denoting death and Nazi collaboration.
Verdict:- Spellbindingly fresh.
Christian Petzold’s PHOENIX is currently screening at Palace’s Verona cinema, Darlinghurst.
