Petzold’s Phoenix (2014) is a much easier film to mentally digest having now encountered some of his other works and been given a surface level understanding of different sociocultural/sociopolitical issues that Germany has faced and continues to face. Once again utilizing a stoic, weirdly hypnotic Nina Hoss character in a transitional phase of her life, Petzold this time places her in post WWII Germany in what I feel is the mostly fully formed meta-narrative from what we have seen from the director. The film is very consistent in cinematically executing its central themes, of which the most prominent is rebuilding a sense of self and identity after undergoing a devastating betrayal. This allegory is what ties Nelly’s story to the story of post-war Germany; in each case, both have been ravaged by an unfathomable sort of destruction and are forced to quickly confront their past self and reinvent themselves for the future. The “phoenix” metaphor of rising from the ashes is visible through Nelly’s transformation and in her interactions with her post-war surroundings. In the beginning Nelly is, in a sense, completely faceless, and then slowly begins to reclaim a fuller, healthier look that appears to both resemble her old self and someone distinctly new (Johnny never really concedes that she looks exactly like the old Nelly). The “new” Nelly is the signal of her rebirth, which goes beyond physical attributes and makes a gesture toward emotional rebirth in her final decision to leave Johnny behind after fully grasping that he did indeed betray her. The film’s portrayal of Germany parallels Nelly’s story, albeit we don’t see as much indication of “rebuilding” as we do with our protagonist. Still, we get the sense that Petzold wants to capture a Germany in the midst of a confused identity crisis. Many of the buildings are still destroyed. American soldiers, who do quite a bit of harassing to the discomfort of the locals, patrol the film constantly and evoke the feeling of being occupied by something other than the true self. Most importantly, the people themselves feel rather flustered and uneasy throughout the entire film. Johnny’s conscience always seems to be weighing on him heavily, constantly pausing to reflect on his past when the “old” Nelly is brought up. The people attending the dinner party, in line with what Johnny expected, never bring up Nelly’s time at the camp and instead simply toast to her safe return. It’s implied, however, that they each feel a certain sense of guilt that their own country subjected a friend to the kind of experience that she had and are having a difficult time confronting a physical representation of the horrors that took place. Petzold cites that Germany has lacked this “rebuilding or reconstruction of cinema” that focuses on the uncomfortable topic of post WWII Germany, and in that sense this film is very courageous. By letting awkward silences and poorly hidden looks of resentment do most of the talking, Petzold gives a brutally honest glimpse at the pains of rebirth after betrayal.
Matthew, I'm really glad that you actually addressed the title in this post. I had not thought about it for a SECOND until I read this, but the myth of the creature who rises from the ashes is interesting in the context of the film. She seems to go through a rebirth, but generally, when a phoenix rises from its ashes, it seems like a triumphant moment. Is Nelly's rebirth actually triumphant? (I don't have an answer; I'm just posing a question I've been thinking about.)
Of the films we have viewed up to this point, Phoenix has got to be one of my favorites. Petzold again chose to make another period piece with this movie, but did it in the aftermath of WWII. The idea that this woman, Nelly, had been through so much as a jew in nazi germany, and comes back to a husband who not only does not recognize her, but also is conniving and plotting to get her money, it is like she went from one torture to another. One difference I noticed however between this period piece and Petzolds other, is that this one again deals with the idea of love and money. It is unique however in the fact that it suggests both (love can and cannot live without money). We see that money is no big deal through the POV of Nelly. She clearly has money, yet she is willing to stay in the tiny basement shack just to be with Johnny. We get the idea that love cannot exist without money through the point of view of Johnny. All he is concerned about the entire movie is getting Nelly's inheritance. He also literally lets money blind him to love when he refuses to see that the woman he is trying to turn into Nelly, is in fact Nelly all along. Petzold sure put an interesting spin on this film, and really makes us question the themes we have been discussing in the class regarding love and money.
Phoenix gives us a chance to look at Germany in a time that many might not know about. The film featured many structures destroyed, families torn apart and lovers in denial about if their spouse is alive or not. This film made me think a lot about Nelly and Johnny’s relationship and I think that’s what a huge purpose of the movie was. Nelly is very much in love with Johnny, but is Johnny in love with her? Many scenes and situations make us believe that at possibly one time they were in love but I think whenever Nelly started getting ostracized he began to rethink his intentions. Nelly’s friend tells us that Johnny is the one who gave her up to the Nazi’s causing her to go to an interment camp, but Nelly doesn’t believe her. When I heard this I found it hard to believe, but then her friend told Nelly that right before she was captured Johnny was granted a divorce. This is proven with a letter stating the fact. After I saw this, I then lost all doubt that he was the one who gave her up. There is no reason not to believe her friend in the fact that all her information is factual. Even after all this Nelly still loves Johnny and even pretends to be “herself” just to spend time with him. I found it very odd that Johnny was the only character that did not recognize Nelly out of everyone that previously knew her. As her lover I would think that he would automatically know her, but I think he has tried to suppress maybe what he did in the past. He feels guilty and that is hiding his judgment.
Petzold's Phoenix (2014) has been my favorite movie that we've seen in this class, mostly because it was yet another period piece about Germany. Nelly, a survivor of a concentration camp, is being advised and instructed by an agent named Lene, who informs her that she has inherited a large sum of money from deceased family members. After surviving such horrible tortures, Nelly doesn't seem to care for money at this point. Instead, she requests to see her husband, Johnny, who she had been separated from since the day of her arrest.
I think it's really important to point out this relationship between love and money because it is so different than what we've seen in previous movies. In Phoenix, Nelly has the money, but she really doesn't care for it at all. Instead, she only wants to see Johnny, who, in reality, only cares for "Nelly" because of the inheritance that he wants to own for himself. He's literally manipulating her with no regard for her feelings for a fortune. Nelly has money, but only wants the old love to return to her life. Meanwhile Johnny has no money, but high desires for the inheritance, without even mentioning his old love for his supposed dead wife.
While watching this movie, the relationship between love and money blew my mind. How could one claim to have loved another if, in reality, they were just after monetary gain and the control of power? Even at the end of the film, after Johnny has recognized Nelly for who she really is, he still doesn't seem to feel anything but an almost surprise at getting caught. There still isn't a spark of love in his eyes as he recognizes Nelly. There is just an utter baffled stare as he stops playing the piano.
There is no telling what happens after the final scene in Phoenix. But the film has definitely twisted the way we talk about love VS money in this class, especially in relation to not wanting the money at all.
The film Phoenix (2014) delivers the effects of the aftermath of WWII concentration camp survivors. The film illustrates the consequences through Nelly (Nina Hoss), and how she went about life after she came back to society. Petzold shows the tragedy that Nelly was unrecognizable because of the physical toll her body was put through in the camp. The fact that the survivors couldn’t get back to their original lives portrays the hardship their minds were put through. For the film displays “one can not love without money”, Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld) caught up with his wife being dead, doesn’t realize Nelly is alive. Nelly goes along with Johnny’s thinking of her being dead. She tries to get her appearance back to the way she used to look like, in which, Nelly does, but Johnny is blinded by what he thinks. His intentions of getting Nelly’s inheritance display his need for money. Nelly tries everything she can to make Johnny realize that she is the real Nelly but soon finds out his true intentions. The irony of Johnny figuring out Nelly was there all along with the diegetic sound of the piano he plays then stops, speechless and motionless; his face explains the how he feels about Nelly. Nelly’s character makes a point during the end sequence, for she stares at Johnny before walking out of the room, leaving the presence of strength. The high vocal sound of her pitch puts the people in the room in awe, and the passion she has for love.
While watching Petzold’s Pheonix, the first thing that came to mind was Humphrey Bogart’s character in Dark Passage. In this, he reconstructs his face to search for the person who framed him for his wife’s murder. Although it may seem like two completely different films, there are many similarities in the main characters’ desires. Both characters are searching for a way to return to their past, Vincent by discovering who framed him and Nelly by pretending to be herself. However, Petzold purposefully stays away from this film because “they’re too near to their characters, and too faraway in the same moment” (Nayman). Nelly must pretend to be herself, while not actually being that person; overall she must “see herself through a different pair of eyes” (Nayman). She is can’t return to her previous life or even be herself, but she can get close to it with the use of her new face. With Vincent, he cannot get close to his life before prison, which shows that they are faraway, but he is still has his identity and doesn’t have to pretend to be someone else, which shows how close he is to his character. The title of the film also tells of Nelly’s story. The myth of the phoenix is about rebirth, where you arise from the ashes of your predecessor. In the beginning of the film we see how badly she denied this phoenix due to her desire to return to her life before she was arrested. This is seen by her persistence to be with her husband, and even denies being Jewish to Lene at one point. Nelly also begs Johnny to let her be in his plan to pretend to be her old self. Petzold also signifies this by keeping her in the dark as she tells Lene about this, signifying that she has not risen out of the ashes, which is also seen in her timid and weak personality. However, once she realizes that Johnny had intended to divorce her, Nelly becomes a new person. She is now much more aggressive and willing to let go of her past and go towards her future. In this instance, she has been reborn and has risen out of the ashes of her previous self by realizing that Johnny has betrayed her and she shouldn’t be helping him. Her walking out into the sun, leaving her old friends and her husband behind, also signifies this. I really enjoyed the part he realizes that she is actually Nelly. Also, this goes along with the love and money question of the class. Nelly tries to help Johnny get the money in the hope of getting his love and her old life back. But, once she realizes that he is not a good person, she decides that giving this money will not bring her love.
Petzold’s Phoenix (2014) is a much easier film to mentally digest having now encountered some of his other works and been given a surface level understanding of different sociocultural/sociopolitical issues that Germany has faced and continues to face. Once again utilizing a stoic, weirdly hypnotic Nina Hoss character in a transitional phase of her life, Petzold this time places her in post WWII Germany in what I feel is the mostly fully formed meta-narrative from what we have seen from the director. The film is very consistent in cinematically executing its central themes, of which the most prominent is rebuilding a sense of self and identity after undergoing a devastating betrayal. This allegory is what ties Nelly’s story to the story of post-war Germany; in each case, both have been ravaged by an unfathomable sort of destruction and are forced to quickly confront their past self and reinvent themselves for the future. The “phoenix” metaphor of rising from the ashes is visible through Nelly’s transformation and in her interactions with her post-war surroundings. In the beginning Nelly is, in a sense, completely faceless, and then slowly begins to reclaim a fuller, healthier look that appears to both resemble her old self and someone distinctly new (Johnny never really concedes that she looks exactly like the old Nelly). The “new” Nelly is the signal of her rebirth, which goes beyond physical attributes and makes a gesture toward emotional rebirth in her final decision to leave Johnny behind after fully grasping that he did indeed betray her. The film’s portrayal of Germany parallels Nelly’s story, albeit we don’t see as much indication of “rebuilding” as we do with our protagonist. Still, we get the sense that Petzold wants to capture a Germany in the midst of a confused identity crisis. Many of the buildings are still destroyed. American soldiers, who do quite a bit of harassing to the discomfort of the locals, patrol the film constantly and evoke the feeling of being occupied by something other than the true self. Most importantly, the people themselves feel rather flustered and uneasy throughout the entire film. Johnny’s conscience always seems to be weighing on him heavily, constantly pausing to reflect on his past when the “old” Nelly is brought up. The people attending the dinner party, in line with what Johnny expected, never bring up Nelly’s time at the camp and instead simply toast to her safe return. It’s implied, however, that they each feel a certain sense of guilt that their own country subjected a friend to the kind of experience that she had and are having a difficult time confronting a physical representation of the horrors that took place. Petzold cites that Germany has lacked this “rebuilding or reconstruction of cinema” that focuses on the uncomfortable topic of post WWII Germany, and in that sense this film is very courageous. By letting awkward silences and poorly hidden looks of resentment do most of the talking, Petzold gives a brutally honest glimpse at the pains of rebirth after betrayal.
ReplyDeleteMatthew, I'm really glad that you actually addressed the title in this post. I had not thought about it for a SECOND until I read this, but the myth of the creature who rises from the ashes is interesting in the context of the film. She seems to go through a rebirth, but generally, when a phoenix rises from its ashes, it seems like a triumphant moment. Is Nelly's rebirth actually triumphant? (I don't have an answer; I'm just posing a question I've been thinking about.)
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ReplyDeleteOf the films we have viewed up to this point, Phoenix has got to be one of my favorites. Petzold again chose to make another period piece with this movie, but did it in the aftermath of WWII. The idea that this woman, Nelly, had been through so much as a jew in nazi germany, and comes back to a husband who not only does not recognize her, but also is conniving and plotting to get her money, it is like she went from one torture to another. One difference I noticed however between this period piece and Petzolds other, is that this one again deals with the idea of love and money. It is unique however in the fact that it suggests both (love can and cannot live without money). We see that money is no big deal through the POV of Nelly. She clearly has money, yet she is willing to stay in the tiny basement shack just to be with Johnny. We get the idea that love cannot exist without money through the point of view of Johnny. All he is concerned about the entire movie is getting Nelly's inheritance. He also literally lets money blind him to love when he refuses to see that the woman he is trying to turn into Nelly, is in fact Nelly all along. Petzold sure put an interesting spin on this film, and really makes us question the themes we have been discussing in the class regarding love and money.
ReplyDeletePhoenix gives us a chance to look at Germany in a time that many might not know about. The film featured many structures destroyed, families torn apart and lovers in denial about if their spouse is alive or not. This film made me think a lot about Nelly and Johnny’s relationship and I think that’s what a huge purpose of the movie was. Nelly is very much in love with Johnny, but is Johnny in love with her? Many scenes and situations make us believe that at possibly one time they were in love but I think whenever Nelly started getting ostracized he began to rethink his intentions. Nelly’s friend tells us that Johnny is the one who gave her up to the Nazi’s causing her to go to an interment camp, but Nelly doesn’t believe her. When I heard this I found it hard to believe, but then her friend told Nelly that right before she was captured Johnny was granted a divorce. This is proven with a letter stating the fact. After I saw this, I then lost all doubt that he was the one who gave her up. There is no reason not to believe her friend in the fact that all her information is factual. Even after all this Nelly still loves Johnny and even pretends to be “herself” just to spend time with him. I found it very odd that Johnny was the only character that did not recognize Nelly out of everyone that previously knew her. As her lover I would think that he would automatically know her, but I think he has tried to suppress maybe what he did in the past. He feels guilty and that is hiding his judgment.
ReplyDeletePetzold's Phoenix (2014) has been my favorite movie that we've seen in this class, mostly because it was yet another period piece about Germany. Nelly, a survivor of a concentration camp, is being advised and instructed by an agent named Lene, who informs her that she has inherited a large sum of money from deceased family members. After surviving such horrible tortures, Nelly doesn't seem to care for money at this point. Instead, she requests to see her husband, Johnny, who she had been separated from since the day of her arrest.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really important to point out this relationship between love and money because it is so different than what we've seen in previous movies. In Phoenix, Nelly has the money, but she really doesn't care for it at all. Instead, she only wants to see Johnny, who, in reality, only cares for "Nelly" because of the inheritance that he wants to own for himself. He's literally manipulating her with no regard for her feelings for a fortune. Nelly has money, but only wants the old love to return to her life. Meanwhile Johnny has no money, but high desires for the inheritance, without even mentioning his old love for his supposed dead wife.
While watching this movie, the relationship between love and money blew my mind. How could one claim to have loved another if, in reality, they were just after monetary gain and the control of power? Even at the end of the film, after Johnny has recognized Nelly for who she really is, he still doesn't seem to feel anything but an almost surprise at getting caught. There still isn't a spark of love in his eyes as he recognizes Nelly. There is just an utter baffled stare as he stops playing the piano.
There is no telling what happens after the final scene in Phoenix. But the film has definitely twisted the way we talk about love VS money in this class, especially in relation to not wanting the money at all.
The film Phoenix (2014) delivers the effects of the aftermath of WWII concentration camp survivors. The film illustrates the consequences through Nelly (Nina Hoss), and how she went about life after she came back to society. Petzold shows the tragedy that Nelly was unrecognizable because of the physical toll her body was put through in the camp. The fact that the survivors couldn’t get back to their original lives portrays the hardship their minds were put through. For the film displays “one can not love without money”, Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld) caught up with his wife being dead, doesn’t realize Nelly is alive. Nelly goes along with Johnny’s thinking of her being dead. She tries to get her appearance back to the way she used to look like, in which, Nelly does, but Johnny is blinded by what he thinks. His intentions of getting Nelly’s inheritance display his need for money. Nelly tries everything she can to make Johnny realize that she is the real Nelly but soon finds out his true intentions. The irony of Johnny figuring out Nelly was there all along with the diegetic sound of the piano he plays then stops, speechless and motionless; his face explains the how he feels about Nelly. Nelly’s character makes a point during the end sequence, for she stares at Johnny before walking out of the room, leaving the presence of strength. The high vocal sound of her pitch puts the people in the room in awe, and the passion she has for love.
ReplyDeleteWhile watching Petzold’s Pheonix, the first thing that came to mind was Humphrey Bogart’s character in Dark Passage. In this, he reconstructs his face to search for the person who framed him for his wife’s murder. Although it may seem like two completely different films, there are many similarities in the main characters’ desires. Both characters are searching for a way to return to their past, Vincent by discovering who framed him and Nelly by pretending to be herself. However, Petzold purposefully stays away from this film because “they’re too near to their characters, and too faraway in the same moment” (Nayman). Nelly must pretend to be herself, while not actually being that person; overall she must “see herself through a different pair of eyes” (Nayman). She is can’t return to her previous life or even be herself, but she can get close to it with the use of her new face. With Vincent, he cannot get close to his life before prison, which shows that they are faraway, but he is still has his identity and doesn’t have to pretend to be someone else, which shows how close he is to his character.
ReplyDeleteThe title of the film also tells of Nelly’s story. The myth of the phoenix is about rebirth, where you arise from the ashes of your predecessor. In the beginning of the film we see how badly she denied this phoenix due to her desire to return to her life before she was arrested. This is seen by her persistence to be with her husband, and even denies being Jewish to Lene at one point. Nelly also begs Johnny to let her be in his plan to pretend to be her old self. Petzold also signifies this by keeping her in the dark as she tells Lene about this, signifying that she has not risen out of the ashes, which is also seen in her timid and weak personality. However, once she realizes that Johnny had intended to divorce her, Nelly becomes a new person. She is now much more aggressive and willing to let go of her past and go towards her future. In this instance, she has been reborn and has risen out of the ashes of her previous self by realizing that Johnny has betrayed her and she shouldn’t be helping him. Her walking out into the sun, leaving her old friends and her husband behind, also signifies this. I really enjoyed the part he realizes that she is actually Nelly. Also, this goes along with the love and money question of the class. Nelly tries to help Johnny get the money in the hope of getting his love and her old life back. But, once she realizes that he is not a good person, she decides that giving this money will not bring her love.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete