BY DOUG OSWALD
A
concentration camp survivor returns home after the war only to find betrayal
and deceit in “Phoenix,†a Blu-ray release from Criterion. Nina Hoss is Nelly
Lenz, a German Jew returning to Berlin in 1945 both physically and
psychologically damaged after years in concentration camps including the
notorious Auschwitz death camp. A successful nightclub singer prior to the
horrors of Nazi Germany, she returns home with a disfigured face hidden under
bandages when we first meet her on screen. Nelly is aided by her friend Lene Winter
(Nina Kunzendorf), a fellow German Jew who fled to England before the war.
Nelly receives reconstructive surgery on her face which alters her looks,
although we never see what she looked liked prior to her facial disfigurement.
We first see her after the bandages are removed post surgery.
Nelly
wants to be reunited with her husband, she married shortly before being taken
by the authorities to a Jewish detention camp. She finds her husband, Johnny Lenz
(Ronald Zehrfeld), who had not been arrested because he is not Jewish, working
at a local restaurant. He doesn’t recognize her when they talk and it appears
he is oblivious to who she is. Johnny returns to her the next day with a
request. He asks if she will pretend to be his (presumably) dead wife so he can
make a claim for her estate and then he’ll share some of the money with her. Nelly
agrees to the ruse if only to be with her husband even though it is play acting
on his part.
The
psychological scars are deep for both Nelly and Lene, who has survivor’s guilt
from avoiding internment. Those scars are deeper than the physical scars for
Nelly which prevents her from revealing her true identity to her husband as she
learns more about him. Nelly hopes her husband will somehow come to recognize
her as the real Nelly, but plays things out maintaining the ruse in an attempt
to learn how he survived throughout the war. The climax is chilling, as it is
revealed how Nina was betrayed and by whom. These developments are played out
in flashback.
Nina
Hoss and Ronald Zehrfeld are excellent as Nelly and Johnny. as is Nina
Kunzendorf as Lene. Directed by Christian Petzold with a screenplay co-written
by Petzold and Harn Farocki,, the story is based on “motifs†from the novel “Le
retour des cendres†by Hubert Monteilhet. I found it fascinating to watch as
Johnny teaches Nelly how to act like Nelly, dress like Nelly and sign her name
like Nelly in order to “fool†her own family and friends who survived the war. The
movie has a definite “Vertigo†vibe going for it, almost as though we are experiencing
a lucid daydream.
Nina
Hoss may be familiar to fans of the television series “Homelandâ€, wherein she
played Astrid in 13 episodes of the Showtime series from 2014 to 2017. She was
also in the Showtime 2020 series “The Defeated.†Her co-star, Ronald Zehrfeld,
is also terrific and convincing as the “widowed†husband who does not recognize
his own wife, but knows this “other†woman looks close enough to hopefully fool
everyone and claim Nelly’s estate. Zehfred appears in mostly German
productions, but does appear in the 2020 Netflix series “Barbarans†as Berulf.
If
the basic plot of “Phoenix†sounds familiar, as it did to me while I first
viewed the Blu-ray, it’s because the same novel was adapted for the 1965 thriller,
“Return from the Ashes,†which is also the English translation of the novel. That
movie, directed by J. Lee Thompson and adapted by Julius Epstein, features
Maximilian Schell, Samantha Eggar and Ingrid Thulin. I’ve never read the
original novel, but a quick check on the web revealed “Return from the Ashesâ€
is the more faithful while “Phoenix†focuses on “motifs†lifting the basic plot
of the inheritance claim and changes the location from post- World War II
France to Germany and adds the plastic surgery subplot.
“Phoenixâ€
was released in September 2014 in Germany and found an audience as an American
film festival and art house release throughout 2015. While not a blockbuster,
the film did brisk business and deserves a fresh viewing. The movie is 98 minutes
and filmed in German language. The Criterion Collection Blu-ray of “Phoenixâ€
looks and sounds terrific in the original German with English subtitles. The
disc also includes a making of documentary, interviews with the director,
cinematographer, cast and also the trailer. There’s also an informative booklet
with an essay about the film by Michael Koresky included with the disc
packaging. The movie is highly recommended and makes a great double feature
with “Return From the Ashes.â€
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