Barbara (2012 film)
| Barbara | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Film poster | |
| Directed by | Christian Petzold |
| Written by | Christian Petzold Harun Farocki |
| Starring | Nina Hoss Ronald Zehrfeld Jasna Fritzi Bauer Mark Waschke Rainer Bock |
| Cinematography | Hans Fromm |
| Edited by | Bettina Böhler |
| Music by | Stefan Will |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Box office | $3,115,348[1] |
Barbara is a 2012 German drama film directed by Christian Petzold. The film competed at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012,[2] where Petzold won the Silver Bear for Best Director.[3] The film was selected as the German entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.[4]
Plot
East Germany in 1980: Physician Barbara (Nina Hoss) has been transferred for disciplinary reasons because she had filed an "Ausreiseantrag", officially expressing her wish to leave the German Democratic Republic. This puts an end to her career and she is no longer employed by the prestigious Charité in East Berlin, being sent instead to a small hospital near the Baltic Sea. There she works in pediatric surgery, a department led by chief physician André Reiser. The Stasi orders Reiser to approach her in order to gain intelligence on her, but she refuses his advances.
While Barbara's lover Jörg in West Germany prepares her escape, Reiser is increasingly impressed by Barbara. When a young runaway named Stella is delivered to the hospital, Barbara openly contradicts Reiser, who thinks Stella is just malingering and finds out that the girl is suffering from meningitis. Reiser stands corrected and appreciates how she takes care of Stella. Barbara reads the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to the girl and learns that Stella has escaped from a youth detention centre for so-called juvenile offenders, where she was forced to do hard labour. Stella is pregnant and dreams of raising her child in West Germany, yet she must return to the detention centre.
Barbara manages to meet Jörg secretly in an “Interhotel” (an East-German hotel designed for foreigners). He offers to move to East Germany instead of her fleeing to join him in the west; he also indicates she will not need to work if she joins him in West Germany because he is wealthy. The Stasi punish Barbara for the hours in which they cannot find her, by raiding her house and even by inflicting strip- and cavity-searches upon her.
While Barbara is working on a concrete plan to get to Denmark, she accepts Reiser's invitation to dine with him, although she knows he must report to the Stasi. On this occasion she receives a gift from him. It is Ivan Turgenev's A Sportsman's Sketches and Reiser stresses that this book includes the tale of a doctor. They kiss but Barbara still can't let go of her dream of going to West Germany, so she eventually runs away to her own house.
Stella flees the labour youth detention programme again and, gravely injured by barbed wire, seeks shelter in Barbara's home. Barbara does what she can to treat her wounds and takes her to the shore, where a man comes to pick Barbara up and bring her to Denmark where Jörg is waiting for her. But Barbara lets the man pick up Stella instead. She returns to keep on working as a doctor at Reiser's side.
Cast
- Nina Hoss as Barbara
- Ronald Zehrfeld as Dr André Reiser
- Mark Waschke as Jörg
- Rainer Bock as Stasi Officer Klaus Schütz
- Christina Hecke as Karin
- Claudia Geisler as nurse Schlösser
- Peter Weiss as medical student
- Carolin Haupt as medical student
- Deniz Petzold as Angelo
- Rosa Enskat as janitor Bungert
- Jasna Fritzi Bauer as Stella
- Peer-Uwe Teska as waiter
- Elisabeth Lehmann as young waitress
Critical reception
Currently, the film has a rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 38 reviews and an average score of 7.8/10.[5]
Writing in The Guardian, film critic Peter Bradshaw said of Barbara: "The weird oppression and seediness of the times is elegantly captured, and Hoss coolly conveys Barbara's highly strung desperation." Bradshaw awarded the film four stars out of five.[6] The New York Times designated Barbara a critics' pick. In her review, Manohla Dargis said of the film: "Barbara is a film about the old Germany from one of the best directors working in the new: Christian Petzold. For more than a decade Mr. Petzold has been making his mark on the international cinema scene with smart, tense films that resemble psychological thrillers, but are distinguished by their strange story turns, moral thorns, visual beauty and filmmaking intelligence."[7]
Film scholar Christina Gerhardt, in her review of Barbara, wrote: "Photographic choices, such as frequent medium-to-long shots, level framing, and long takes, combine to create a slow-moving film, with an emotional reserve, but palpable feelings simmering beneath the surface."[8]
See also
- List of submissions to the 85th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of German submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
- ^ "Barbara". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
- ^ "Press Release, 9th Jan". berlinale.de. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
- ^ "Prizes of the International Jury 2012". Berlinale. 19 February 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
- ^ "Germany's Oscar entry is Christian Petzold's Barbara". Screendaily. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
- ^ "Barbara Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (27 September 2012). "'Barbara - review'". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Dargis, Manohla (20 December 2012). "'Pushed and Pulled, a Doctor Wants a Way Out'". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Gerhardt, Christina (October, 2012). ""'Winning a (Hi)story out of Places': Christian Petzold's Barbara". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)
External links
- Barbara at IMDb
- Barbara at Rotten Tomatoes
