Undine (2020)
After finding universal praise for 2018's Transit, Christian Petzold is back in the director's chair with Undine. Following a woman named Undine (Paula Beer) who falls in love with a man named Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) but after their breakup has to confront deeper parts of her own identity to figure out how to move forward, Undine is a film that where whimsical, stumbles a bit with its mythology holding back the beautiful romance from fully living up to its potential.
The moral questions at the center of Undine are incredibly interesting and easily are the elements that hold the most potential within the film. Where the film to a fault never fully explains what is actually happening, it slowly reveals more and more of its stakes throughout the runtime and once all the pieces of the puzzle are exposed the result is legitimately moving and captivating. This emotion however can struggle to fully connect simply because of how the film handles its own mythology. Not only does the film do a rather poor job at explaining its own mythology but when put in contrast to the rest of the emotion of the film, it feels rather unimpactful in execution becoming more of a side plot that falls into the background more than anything else.
Where the mythology of the film might serve as a catalyst for a more urgent emotional arc, it was the more grounded emotions where the film found a true emotional conviction. A breakup is never easy and the spiral of emotions that can follow is perfectly highlighted by the film, especially within the performance from Paula Beer. Beer is phenomenal within the film selling not just the tragicness of the breakup she finds herself experiencing but also capturing the passion she feels for the relationship completely justifying her Best Actress win at the Berlin Film Festival and becoming the true heartbeat of the film. It is genuinely haunting to see the emotional power she finds and it is this exploration of the power of a relationship through the consequences of one ending that truly elevates the film's emotional impact.
When the strong cinematography from Hans Fromm and subtle editing from Bettina Böhler are added to the mix, it is clear that Undine is yet another inspired effort within Christian Petzold's filmography which has legitimate craft and effort behind it to not only make the film effective but also unique. Where the blend of mythology and grounded emotion clearly has its rough spots and ends up showing more potential than results, the film still has that incredible backbone of emotion that connects and makes the film overall worthwhile.
The moral questions at the center of Undine are incredibly interesting and easily are the elements that hold the most potential within the film. Where the film to a fault never fully explains what is actually happening, it slowly reveals more and more of its stakes throughout the runtime and once all the pieces of the puzzle are exposed the result is legitimately moving and captivating. This emotion however can struggle to fully connect simply because of how the film handles its own mythology. Not only does the film do a rather poor job at explaining its own mythology but when put in contrast to the rest of the emotion of the film, it feels rather unimpactful in execution becoming more of a side plot that falls into the background more than anything else.
Where the mythology of the film might serve as a catalyst for a more urgent emotional arc, it was the more grounded emotions where the film found a true emotional conviction. A breakup is never easy and the spiral of emotions that can follow is perfectly highlighted by the film, especially within the performance from Paula Beer. Beer is phenomenal within the film selling not just the tragicness of the breakup she finds herself experiencing but also capturing the passion she feels for the relationship completely justifying her Best Actress win at the Berlin Film Festival and becoming the true heartbeat of the film. It is genuinely haunting to see the emotional power she finds and it is this exploration of the power of a relationship through the consequences of one ending that truly elevates the film's emotional impact.
When the strong cinematography from Hans Fromm and subtle editing from Bettina Böhler are added to the mix, it is clear that Undine is yet another inspired effort within Christian Petzold's filmography which has legitimate craft and effort behind it to not only make the film effective but also unique. Where the blend of mythology and grounded emotion clearly has its rough spots and ends up showing more potential than results, the film still has that incredible backbone of emotion that connects and makes the film overall worthwhile.