"Undine" -- Movie Review

 

On the closing weekend of the Virtual 58^th New York Film Festival, I streamed the new romantic drama from Germany, “Undine”, directed by Christian Petzold. 

Synopsis

When a mysterious woman’s love affair abruptly ends, will she be able to take revenge on her ex even though she’s found someone new? 

Story

Undine (Paula Beer) is having coffee with her boyfriend Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) when he breaks the news to her that he’s leaving her for another woman.  This is bad news not only for Undine herself, but also for Johannes, against whom she promises to seek some form of retribution.  She has to go to work but warns him to stay right where he is until she returns.  Her job is that of a tour guide who explains Berlin’s history and architecture to tourists.  Unfortunately, when she goes back, Johannes is nowhere to be found. 

While searching for him in the café, Undine is approached by Christoph (Franz Rogowski), one of the people in the group who heard Undine’s lecture earlier.  In an awkward “meet cute” that winds up trashing the café, Christoph asks her out on a date.  Despite the clumsiness, Undine agrees to go out with him and they wind up spending a great deal of time together.  Eventually, things turn romantic and they become a couple.  Things are going quite well until one night when Undine receives a phone call from Christoph, accusing her of cheating on him.  Convinced he is right, he curtly hangs up on her.

The next morning, feeling things unresolved, Undine goes to meet Christoph at his job – only to learn that there was a terrible accident and he was taken to the hospital.  Undine rushes to the hospital to visit Christoph at the hospital, where she discovers that Christoph is in a coma from which he may never awaken.  Upset over the fact that she has lost yet another lover, Undine uses this opportunity to make good on her threat and seek vengeance on Johannes.  But can she carry out her plan – and if she does, will she be held accountable for her deed?     

Review

“Undine” is based on a character in Greek mythology – Undine, a spiritual woman of the water who turns human only after she falls in love with a man who will die if he betrays her.  This movie has a rather preternatural quality to it, so know that it won’t be either a typical romantic story or a full-on science fiction fable either.  Instead, it focuses on unusual characters doing unusual things all against the backdrop of a love story.  If you’re in the mood for something non-traditional, this may just be the motion picture for you.

The performances in “Undine” are quite good – you really believe that Undine and Christoph have a legitimate attraction to each other; perhaps that’s because the same two actors played romantic interests in a previous Petzold film, “Transit”.  Both Beer and Rogowski genuinely do seem to have a chemistry between each other.  When they have an argument over the telephone, you truly worry that this may very well be the end of what came across (to the audience, at least) as a perfect relationship and you’re rooting for the relationship, not necessarily either character.        

One of the more remarkable things about “Undine” include the type and variety of the visual images Petzold is able to capture by way of telling this phantasmagorical story.  At points in the movie, you get a sense of a dreamlike quality to the whole yarn – in large part, due to the trancelike imagery.  This is something that’s a key to the film’s success – if you’re going to depict a tale that has some degree of a mythical quality to it, then you better make sure that parts do in fact feel other-worldly.  Where Petzold succeeds is in his ability to traverse between naturalism and supernaturalism.