Will the references to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo never end? A very blatant citation is in David Lynch's Twin Peaks, with Sheryl Lee playing both blonde victim Laura Palmer and her cousin, brunette doppelganger Madeleine. Before and after that, there have been several instances, some more successful than others. Christian Petzold's glorious war drama, "Phoenix", falls firmly into the first category. Disfigured Jewish musician Nelly Lenz (the ever luminous Nina Hoss) has to undergo a painful facial reconstruction, after having survived the horror of the concentration camps. Helped by close friend Lene (Nina Kunzendorf), Nelly slowly comes back to life, but her main goal is to find her beloved husband, Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld). We are at the end of World War II and Berlin is nothing but a heap of rubble. People roam the streets aimlessly and, among the destruction and the uncertainty, there is a sense of a nation having lost its identity. Nelly looks at herself in a mirror and sees a stranger and when Lene tells her "You're Jewish", as if to assert at least one undeniable truth, Nelly refuses to accept it. The only thing that tethers her to reality is the love for her lost husband and she stumbles on him by chance, working as a busboy at the Phoenix cabaret. He doesn't recognise her, but acknowledges a passing resemblance to his allegedly dead wife. Nelly is heartbroken, but doesn't have the courage to reveal the truth. Johannes (who is not Jewish and no longer wants to be called Johnny) knows that his wife has an unclaimed fortune in a Swiss bank, so he devises a plan and here's the Vertigo nod to transform this stranger into his dead wife. Nelly agrees to the plan, hoping that by living at such close quarters, he will eventually discover her real identity. He doesn't. Even when it becomes quite evident that, as Lene suggested, he'd betrayed her to the Nazis, Nelly keeps her side of the bargain, growing more confident as she resumes her former identity, as she struggles to be the woman she no longer is. The finale is powerful and moving: I won't reveal it, but I'll just say that it involves a tattoo and a Kurt Weill song. It will stay with you long after the words "the end". The premise of "Phoenix" is obviously rather far fetched, but the acting, cinematography and direction are all stunning and I am quite surprised the film has not been more widely praised (I was expecting it to get an Oscar nod). Nina Hoss, who is a Petzold regular and was great in "Barbara", gives a career-best performance, fine-tuning the metamorphosis of the character from haggard and desperate concentration camp victim to brittle, yet strong and confident survivor. A real Phoenix, rising from the ashes of a past that can no longer be recreated. Ronald Zehrfeld, who also starred in "Barbara", is wonderful as Johannes, a man whose refusal to see what's in front of his eyes is steadfast at first, but slowly crumbles as the film unfolds, and finally collapses in an emotional reveal that the actor depicts with understated emotional mastery. But the real star of the film is the director, the fantastic Christian Petzold, who has crafted a moving, intelligent and unforgettable story, one that never tries to cheaply tug at your heartstrings. Regardless of his historical setting, it's a universal tale that tells of how we all strive for identity and meaning and of how, in the face of the worst possible betrayal, we can still find the strength to turn
Review of Phoenix
