Carte Blanche to Denis Côté
Director: Christian Petzold, Germany, 2007, 88 min. With: Nina Hoss, Devid Striesow, Hinnerk Schönemann, Burghart Klaußner. In German with French subtitles.
Silver Bear, Best Actrice, 2007
Several of Christian Petzold’s earlier films have been released in Quebec, the latest being his Berlinale competition film Transit. Here in this earlier film, Petzold paints a portrait of Yella who wants out of Wittenberge where her marriage has collapsed and there is no work. She meets up by chance with Philipp, a venture capitalist and this meeting reveals her inner capacity for the ruthless world of business.
“Yella mixes Godard-like precision with the imagination of a young Wenders, a French look with German sentimentalism. The result is something entirely unexpected, exhilarating”. – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Christian Petzold’s film is a precisely staged, thickly interwoven metaphysical thriller that confirms him as one of the best German directors of the middle generation. – Variety
“Haunting, highly economical work that rewards repeated viewings… Is Yella a political ghost story? An allegory of German reunification? A young woman from the East’s dream of life in the West? It’s all of these and more.”– Film Comment
Carte Blanche to Denis Côté
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