Movies

SYNOPSIS

Nelly Lenz is a concentration camp survivor who has been left severely injured with a disfigured face. Lene Winter, who works for the Jewish Agency, takes her to Berlin. Following facial re- construction surgery, Nelly begins the search for her husband Johnny. When she finally does find him, Johnny does not recognise her. Nevertheless he approaches her with a proposal. Since she resembles his wife, whom he believes to be dead, he asks her to help him claim his wife's considerable inheritance. Nelly agrees, and becomes her own doppelganger. Since she wants her life back, Nelly needs to know if Johnny ever loved her, or if he betrayed her.

Christian Petzold

Christian Petzold is one of the leading directors in New German cinema. The German Film Critics Association has twice awarded him Best Film awards. Born in 1960, Petzold studied German and Theater Studies at the Free University in Berlin, then graduated from the German Film & Television Academy (DFFB) in 1994.

Filmography

2014 Phoenix
2012 Barbara
2008 Jerichow
2007 Yella
2005 Gespenster / Ghosts
2003 Wolfsburg
2002 Toter Mann / Something to Remind Me
2001 Die innere Sicherheit / The State I Am In
 
Festivals
2014 Toronto, London, Rome, San Sebastián

Awards
2014 San Sebastián - FIPRESCI Award


The jazzy approach takes time to settle into a groove, but the longer its themes commingle, the more Phoenix harmonizes into something unforgettable.
Sam Woolf