Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Phoenix Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 25, 2016

Winner of FIPRESCI Prize at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, German director Christian Petzold's film "Phoenix" (2014) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; exclusive new filmed conversation with director Christian Petzold and actress Nina Hoss; exclusive new video interview with cinematographer Hans Fromm; and standard featurette. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Michael Koresky. In German, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

A different woman

June, 1945. A young woman (Nina Hoss, Barbara, Yella) with a badly disfigured face is brought back to Berlin. She is so weak that she can barely stay on her feet. A doctor examines her and tells her that he can make her look beautiful again. He can’t reconstruct her old face, but she can choose a better one from his tiny catalog.

After the surgery it is revealed that the woman has spent time in a Nazi concentration camp and that before the war she was a singer. Somehow she survived. The majority of the people she met in the camp, however, were executed.

While she recovers, the woman repeatedly asks her best friend (Nina Kunzendorf, Woman in Gold) about her husband (Ronald Zehrfeld, Beloved Sisters). He was also arrested, but the Nazis did not send him to the camps. The woman never stopped thinking about him. He was always in her dreams and helped her survive. Eventually, her friend reveals to her that she has seen him, somewhere in the American sector.

The woman with the new face and her husband meet in Phoenix, a newly rebuilt cabaret where American soldiers like to spend their dollars. He does not recognize her, but she makes an impression on him and he offers to help her make enough money to escape Berlin and start a new life somewhere else. All she has to do is learn to impersonate his dead wife, Nelly, so that in a few months they can split her inheritance.

This film can be engrossing, but only if one does not overanalyze a few key elements of its plot. The most vulnerable one is the fact that the husband never once finds the easiness with which his wife plays herself suspicious. There are logical questions he could ask while they are practicing together that are intentionally ignored in order to have a series of events occur later on. Another is the legal status of their marriage, before and after the time the two apparently parted ways.

Depending on how one interprets some of the revelations after the woman returns to her home, one could also deconstruct the finale in a number of different ways. For example, theoretically the woman could have been betrayed by a couple of different people that knew her, but there is no question that the simplest read of the events preceding her arrest is also the most effective one. (It is undoubtedly the most thought-provoking one, which is why it should be the preferred one).

Phoenix is the fifth collaboration between director Christian Petzold and Hoss and it confirms that there is a special chemistry between them. In some of the most moving sequences from the film a simple look or gesture is captured by the camera in a way that reveals far more than words could. This is also done with such striking ease and calmness that viewing the film actually becomes quite the intimate experience.

Zehrfeld and Kunzendorf are convincing in their respective roles, but occasionally one could sense a whiff of artificiality in their actions.

The locations in Poland and Germany that were used to recreate the bombed-out Berlin are terrific. While cinematographer Hans Fromm’s camera moves amongst the debris, it literally feels like one is transported back in time.

Phoenix Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a granted a 1080p transfer, Christian Petzold's Phoenix arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created on an ARRISCAN film scanner in 2K resolution. The original 5.1 surround soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the original digital audio master files.

Transfer supervisor: nhb, Hamburg.
Colorist: Adam Ingis/Post Republic, Berlin."

The release has been sourced from the same 2K master which Soda Pictures accessed when it prepared its Blu-ray release last year. Unsurprisingly, once again the film looks wonderful in high-definition. Depth and clarity are excellent. Even during the nighttime footage small objects and details are incredibly easy to identify. Sharpness and contrast levels are remain stable. Colors are rich and vibrant, with a wide range of beautifully balanced nuances. Image stability is outstanding. Indeed, this is a very solid technical presentation of Phoenix that makes it exceptionally easy to appreciate the vision of its creator. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Phoenix Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

While dynamic intensity is rather modest, the unique soundtrack, which blends lush jazzy themes and some more straightforward classic themes, makes quite an impression. Separation and fidelity are outstanding. The dialog is very crisp and clean, and it remains stable throughout the entire film. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report.

Phoenix Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Phoenix. In German, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

• Christian Petzold and Nina Hoss - in this filmed conversation, director Christian Petzold and actress Nina Hoss, who have collaborated on six films, discuss their professional relationship, some of the key themes that have emerged in their films, the dilemmas Nelly faces in Phoenix, the very awkward reality in which the story is set, etc. The conversation was filmed exclusively for Criterion in Berlin in 2016. In German, with optional English subtitles. (26 min, 1080i).

• Hans Fromm - in this brand new video interview, cinematographer Hans Fromm discusses the visual style and appearance of Phoenix (it was the first CinemaScope film he lensed for Christian Petzold), some very specific composition choices, the lighting of specific sequences, the unfortunate advance of digital filmmaking, etc. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in Berlin in January 2016. In German, with optional English subtitles. (13 min, 1080p).

• The Making of Phoenix - standard featurette with raw footage from the shooting of the film in Poland and Germany. Also included in it are clips from interviews with director Christian Petzold and actors Nina Kunzendorf (Lene), Nina Hoss (Nelly), and Ronald Zehrfeld (Johnny), production designer K. D. Gruber, etc. In German, with imposed English subtitles. (21 min, 1080p).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Michael Koresky.

Phoenix Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A young woman with a badly disfigured face returns to bombed-out Berlin hoping to reunite with her husband and makes a shocking discovery in German director Christian Petzold's new film, Phoenix. The plot of the film has a few questionable elements, but Nina Hoss' stunning performance makes them very easy to ignore. If you decide to see it and like it, I also recommend tracking down a copy of Christian Petzold and Nina Hoss' previous collaboration, Barbara, about a fearless doctor living in the defunct GDR. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release features a fantastic new conversation between Christian Petzold and Nina Hoss as well as a very informative new interview with cinematographer Hans Fromm. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.