Thoughts on Phoenix

This was a simple, yet complex film. It's style is very period piece. I am always reminded of Fassbinder when I watch a film set in the post War era of Germany. The Marriage of Maria Braun is set in the immediate aftermath of Germany's defeat and it's landscapes and set designs are similar to the ones in Phoenix. I wondered how did the production team create such landscapes this late in the history of Berlin? How did it look so bombed out when Berlin has become, even the area by the Berlin Wall, subject to property development? The costumes were also very period piece. The hairstyles, etc all made the film believable. Much like Fassbinder's Maria Braun. That too had settings and costumes that took the viewer back to the Jazz Age.

The lead character, Nelly, was exceptionally good in her role as the concentration camp survivor and former singer. Up until the end I was wondering if she would ever sing again. When she finally did, it was the climax of the film and the best scene in the movie. She sings a song which she knows all the words by heart in front of her ex-husband who divorced her and turned her into the Nazis. Now that she survived the camps she has inherited an estate. So her husband has designs on the fortune.

It becomes a cat and mouse game between Johnny and Nelly. There are some taut dramatic scenes in the film that, I thought, were well written. The dialogue or the lack of dialogue because what should be said is not come off as leaving me wanting more. Nelly has to conceal the fact that she is the ex-husband's wife because her face has been reconstructed and she doesn't look the same. Not only the dialogue and the settings, but the story is a strong one. It kept me glued to the screen. I, as I usually do, kept my clockphone out with me, and timed the film to it's very end which comes right after Nelly sings her song and is very abrupt. The film goes out of focus and Nelly has revealed to her ex-husband and what's left of her family that she did not die. That she lived. Her concentration camp marking and the fact that she knew the song by heart reveal the secret that she did so much to keep from her ex-husband.

It's a short riveting film. I enjoyed it. I wish it were longer.