THIS BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED AND INGENIOUSLY STRUCTURED METAPHYSICAL THRILLER WON THE BEST ACTRESS PRIZE FOR NINA HOSS AT THE BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL AND CONFIRMS CHRISTIAN PETZOLD AS ONE OF GERMANY’S MOST INTERESTING DIRECTORS.
On screen for virtually the whole movie, Hoss gives a compelling performance as Yella, a young woman from Wittenberg in the former East Germany who has reached a crossroads in her life. Hassled by her near psychotic ex-husband Ben (Hinnerk Schonemann), who is a failed businessman, she crosses the River Elbe to find a job in Hanover. Making a miraculous escape after Ben drives their car into the river en route to the train station, she arrives soaked and dishevelled in Hanover, only to discover that her new boss has been fired and her prized job doesn’t exist anymore. Teaming up with smart but dodgy young venture capitalist Philipp (Devid Striesow), Yella discovers a talent for the devious games of the modern business world. Petzold’s intriguing film works on a number of different levels. It provides a disturbing portrait of the new Germany, where the East-West divide still exists and the soul-destroying tenants of modern capitalism are taking their toll. The film’s use of landscapes, both rural and urban, is stunningly effective and somewhat reminiscent of the late, great Michelangelo Antonioni’s studies in the alienating effects of environment. Yella can also be seen as a ghostly thriller in which events are viewed through the eyes of a disturbed heroine haunted by the past but dreaming of escape into a modern world that proves equally unsettling.—Peter Walsh.