Afire (2023)

Direction: Christian Petzold
Country: Germany

Celebrated German filmmaker Christian Petzold (Phoenix, 2014; Transit, 2018; Undine, 2020) wrote Afire, a bleak and cerebral drama piece made of small but estimable details, as an intriguing character study. Inspired by Eric Rohmer’s summer tales and Anton Chekhov’s 1896 short story The House with the Mezzanine, the director manages to get our attention as his fictional story unfolds with raw and uncensored power.

Leon (Thomas Schubert), a young published author, and Felix (Langston Uibel), a photographer and art school applicant, decide to spend a working holiday in the latter’s family house in a remote area by the Baltic Sea. Once they get there, they realize the house is already occupied by Nadja (Paula Beer working here with the director for the third time in a row), who is very sweet, untidy and sometimes noisy. She doesn’t say much about herself. Whereas the selfish and uptight Leon is too frustrated and obsessed with writing his second novel to have fun with the others, the outgoing Felix and the luminous Nadja never miss an opportunity to socialize and enjoy the sea. There’s a massive forest fire nearby that suddenly poses a threat; yet everyone seems deeply immersed in their own thing to notice. 

Petzold controls the staging with a firm hand, developing intriguing character dynamics. But do the narrative parts build into something valuable as a whole? The conclusion, associating accomplished writing with something that has to be experienced, isn’t so convincing. Ultimately, in the impossibility of feel any sympathy for the sulky protagonist, we have the raw fragility of humans and the legitimacy of neat performances to cling to. At the very least, it’s interesting to see how strangers react under certain circumstances and how convivial atmospheres can get acerbic when someone in the group contaminates them. 

Petzold’s Afire is an erratic endeavor that can be considered minor within a filmography of so many accomplishments. Although imperfect, it deserves a favorable mention.

Undine (2021)

Direction: Christian Petzold
Country: Germany / France

Shaped with the unique perspective and filmmaking charms of German helmer Christian Petzold (Yella, 2007; Barbara, 2012; Phoenix, 2014), Undine is a hypnotic love story anchored in the mythology and in the contemporary. This fascinating reality-fantasy hybrid centers on a passionate, if tragic, romance lived in today’s Berlin between an historian woman and water nymph, Undine (Paula Beer), and an industrial diver, Christoph (Franz Rogowski). The 16th-century myth says that the mythological water creatures known as undines must kill the men who betray them before returning to the water.

Shot with absolute assurance and tinged with the glowing photography of Petzold’s regular associate Hans Fromm, the film is painted with an intriguing surrealism that counterbalances the quotidian details. It plays like an intimate, well-composed poem whose stanzas are crafted with demonstrative expressions and real intensity.

The waltzing adagio movement of J.S. Bach’s Concerto in D Minor reinforces both the oneiric and the emotional force of the scenes. However, in a stroke of genius, Petzold infuses some irresistible humor when least expected - you have here an opportunity to see a CPR being performed at the rhythm of Bee Gee’s Stayin’ Alive.

Ms. Beer, who is absolutely marvelous here, teams up again with Rogowski for a Petzold film - the first time happened in Transit, three years ago, with equally good results.
Undine is not just an imaginative fairy tale; it’s also a love letter to Berlin and its urban development. Highly recommended.

Transit (2018)

Direction: Christian Petzold
Country: Germany / France

German filmmaker Christian Petzold (Barbara; Phoenix) shows a predisposition to structure his dramas in a ravishing, oblique way. His latest effort, Transit, is set in the port city of Marseille during the Nazi invasion.

The central character is Georg (Franz Rogowski), a German Jew on the run, who finds a viable way to flee the country without arousing the suspicion of the authorities. He is in possession of a document issued by the Mexican consulate to another man that can guarantee him a transit visa. In truth, he stole the identity of that man, Weidel, a celebrated poet who didn’t resist the Nazi pressure and committed suicide in Paris. Weidel’s charming wife, Marie (Paula Beer), is also stuck in Marseille, waiting anxiously for him, so they can depart to Mexico, the much desired safe harbor.

In the meantime, and before meeting Marie in strange circumstances, Georg visits the wife and son of a comrade who succumbed to the manhunt. The woman, Melissa (Maryam Zaree), is mute and was born in the Maghreb; her sweet kid, Driss (Lilien Batman), loves to play soccer, forging a strong bond with Georg, whom he gladly adopts as a father figure. Both are illegal refugees in the country, which becomes a terrible inconvenience when Driss gets sick. Opportunely, Georg offers himself to find doctor Richard (Godehard Giese), who is having an affair with Marie but is planning to leave her soon to embrace a bigger medical cause in Europe. Marie is visibly confused. She wants her husband so badly that, for a couple of times, she had mistaken him for Georg, the man who strategized about saving himself by impersonating him. However, Georg decides to alter his plans after falling for her.

Georg can thank his lucky stars because in some cases, despair leads gradually to tragedy, especially if you are stranded and hopeless. In different situations, tragedies just come with fate. Ironically, “Road to Nowhere” by The Talking Heads plays during the final credits.

The extraordinary performances magnify the complexity of the characters, surrounding them with empathy. Still, you will find emotional pain in every each of them. It’s outstanding how quietly the director gets close to these people.

The plot, adapted by Petzold from Anna Seghers’ WW2 novel to fit the present-day, can be challenging sometimes, but the articulation of the scenes and that pleasurable ambiguity in the narrative turn the film into an interesting watching. Don’t expect many thrills, though, since the director is more interested in offering a wide tonal palette of emotional reflections than really shocking us directly through the images.