In Christoph Petzold's film 'Phoenix', Nina Hoss plays Nelly, a Jewish woman returned to postwar Germany from the concentration camps, both mentally and physically scarred by her experience, although having undergone superficial repair by extensive plastic surgery. In her new guise, she's drawn back to her husband, even though he may have betrayed her and now, certain his wife is dead, believes Nelly to be a doppleganger who he can use to lay claim to her wealth. But Nelly accepts him anyway, grateful for the opportunity to play the part of her former self. It's an intriguing psychological set-up. But it's somewhat contrived, and Nelly's stunning physical recovery into a beautiful (but supposedly unrecongisable) woman doesn't quite ring true. I liked the film because of the acknowledgement, rarely made in Holywood, that revenge isn't always the driving human motive, even when it might appear to be justified. But the story as presented can't quite carry the full weight of its enquiry into human nature.
Review of Phoenix
