Like a man possessed, German filmmaker Christian Petzold—the auteur behind such immaculate movies as Phoenix, Barbara, and Transit—just keeps remaking Vertigo. He seems intent on reconfiguring Hitchcock’s puzzle-box until he solves the eternal mysteries of cinema. His latest cracked fairy tale, Miroirs No. 3, continues his fruitful partnership with his middle-period muse, Paula Beer, star of Afire and Undine, who brilliantly inhabits his uncanny environments and breathes life into his brittle tableaux. On a weekend trip to the countryside, a young woman miraculously survives a freak car crash. Physically unhurt but strangely detached, she is taken in by a local woman who witnessed the wreck. As she extends her stay indefinitely, she forms a mysterious bond with the woman, as well as her husband and son, as if to complete this fractured family. With this bare-bones setup, Petzold embraces his dueling appetites for high art and low, creating a psychodrama that plays like pulp Robert Bresson. How thrilling it is to watch a master filmmaker pare back their style to its essential elements, riff on past works (Yella is top of mind), and ruminate on the images that haunt them. Are there scenes of women riding bicycles through the countryside? Absolutely. Is the film shot through with noirish intrigue? Certainly, Preminger’s Laura being most pronounced. Does the story turn on a tense, revealing piano recital? Count on it. ~OO
Under the motto “AMONG FRIENDS (UNTER FREUNDEN),” the Goethe-Institut USA is launching a campaign to strengthen transatlantic ties. The goal is to expand existing networks and create new hubs for sustainable exchange between German and American societies. You can find more information about the initiative on the AMONG FRIENDS website.