In Undine, director-writer Christian Petzold (Barbara, Phoenix, Transit) recasts the ancient myth of a mysterious water sprite to contemporary Germany.
Lovely, melancholy Undine (Paula Beer) works as a historian lecturing on Berlin’s urban development. She knows all about the Humboldt Forum, and has a knack for dressing. She is nonchalantly beautiful, and the way she imparts her knowledge about the city that was built on a swamp is as professional as it is graceful. But Undine’s world collapses when the man she loves leaves her. Even though she soon meets another suitor, a deep-sea diver (Beer’s Transit co-star Franz Rogowski), forces stronger than she can withstand impel her to kill the lover who betrayed her. Petzold plays smartly with water motifs without allowing this gorgeously moody drama to get soggy. Winner, FIPRESCI prize, Best Actress, Berlin Film Festival. (Alissa Simon)
Director Biography
Born in 1960 in Hilden, West Germany, Christian Petzold studied at Freie Universität Berlin and Berlin's German Academy for Film and Television. An international festival favorite, his features include The State I Am In (2000), Wolfsburg (2003), Gespenster (2005), Yella (2007), Jerichow (2008), Barbara (2012), Phoenix (2014) and Transit (2018).
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