Phoenix (2014) Review: Mired love

“Love is a spark, lost in the dark too soon, too soon.”

In an interview published in 2013, Christian Petzold said, “I wanted to rediscover genre; I did not want to destroy it, therefore not deconstruct it, rather reconstruct it.”

Phoenix is adapted from a Hubert Monteilhet novel by Petzold and Harun Farocki (who passed away in 2014).

Nelly should banish all thoughts of reconnecting with Johnny—a pianist who used to accompany her when she worked as a cabaret singer. Her friend Lene claims he betrayed her to the Nazis and divorced her behind her back after she was sent to the camps.

But Nelly is drawn into matters of personal, rather than social, identity.

Every major historical event has attracted cinematic exploration, and the Holocaust remains the most revisited of them all. The profound emotional turbulence inflicted by it has been painstakingly captured by many filmmakers, each depicting different facets of those events and their psychological repercussions. While many have milked the subject through melodramatic, over-the-top dramas, Phoenix—despite its melodramatic and somewhat unbelievable premise—emerges as a strong film. It deals more with personal crises, identity loss, and two broken lives trying to regain momentum.

Sometimes it takes time to gauge a director’s potential, while a few can convince you of their mastery within minutes of screen time. Phoenix was my first film by German director Christian Petzold, and what he achieved in the opening scene was nothing short of astounding. It’s not flashy, doesn’t involve any stunt-filled action, or showcase anything unseen. It’s a simple scene—yet he evokes a shocking sense of horror and pain through the sympathetic expression of a soldier checking on a woman whose face is wrapped in bandages, mutilated by gunshots.

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Phoenix (2015) is adapted from Hubert Monteilhet’s detective novel Le Retour des cendres, originally set in France. Christian Petzold relocates the story to post-war Berlin, shortly after the German surrender. He drastically reshapes the narrative and simplifies the subplots. The story now revolves around jazz singer Nelly Lenz, the lone survivor from her once well-off family.

She is taken to the hospital for facial reconstruction surgery by her friend Lene (played by Nina Kunzendorf), who also promises her a new identity. Shockingly, Nelly insists on reconstructing her original face, rather than adopting a new look as suggested by the doctor. To her horror, the surgery leaves her with a slightly distorted version of her former self. She can’t recognize her own reflection, nor can she find peace within her tormented soul.

With hollow, blackened eyes, a bruised nose, and damaged cheek, Nelly roams the clubs of the American sector searching for her jazz-pianist husband Johnny, trying to find herself in the process. Lene reveals that Johnny might have betrayed her, even playing a key role in her arrest. But Nelly refuses to believe it. To her, Johnny is the only one who can bring her true self back—the only one capable of reviving the buried emotions of love and hate that might make her feel alive again.

The plot unfolds at a glacial pace for the first thirty minutes until Nelly finally finds Johnny, now working at a nightclub called Phoenix. He fails to recognize her, which makes Nelly feel even more invisible, even more dead. Johnny senses something strangely familiar in this woman, who he believes is just looking for work. He takes her to his basement dwelling and proposes a scheme: she will impersonate his “dead” wife Nelly to help him claim her inheritance.

Nelly is initially reluctant but agrees to play along, allowing Johnny to reconstruct her into a version of herself. Johnny, of course, is unaware of the cruel irony. Nelly, meanwhile, is crushed by his actions but goes along with the charade in hopes of uncovering the truth—of discovering how much he knew, and what really led to her arrest. She drops subtle clues, but all she receives in return is disappointment.

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Phoenix is not a plot-driven film. Instead, it’s powered by estranged emotions—by deception, heartbreak, and the desperate yearning for lost love. It’s quietly intriguing, carrying a subdued sense of suspense as the characters slowly unfold. Their guilt, their redemption, and their hollow attempts at reconnecting make for deeply compelling cinema.

Phoenix (2015) ends with a haunting rendition of “Speak Low”—the Kurt Weill/Ogden Nash song—performed by Nelly. It’s a moment that chills you to the bone. The film may resemble A Separation in its emotionally intricate structure, prompting audiences to reflect deeply on the moral and emotional consequences faced by both lead characters.

Phoenix is not a plot-driven film but it is driven by the estranged emotions that are mired by deception and yearn for true love. It is very intriguing and has a subtle sense of suspense on how both the characters unfold. Their guilt, their redemption. 

“Phoenix” (2015) ends with a haunting performance of “Speak Low,” the Kurt Weill/Ogden Nash by Nelly that will chill us to the bone.  Phoenix may seem like ‘A Separation’ in its structure of emotional labyrinth and it does ask its audience to vicariously decide the moral and emotional consequences of both the leads.

Phoenix 2015 Trailer

Director: Christian Petzold
Writers: Petzold, from a novel by Hubert Monteilhet
Cast: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf
Running time:98 minutes | Language: In German, with subtitles | Links: IMDb

Where to watch Phoenix (2015)