Yella

Yella is running away. Running from her abusive ex-husband Ben, from a little province town in East Germany, from a failed job project.

On the day of her departure Ben tries to kill her in a car accident, but Yella manages to survive and starts a new life in the West.
In a hotel she meets young executive Philipp: he employs her as his assistant and together they perform brilliant financial negotiations. Humour, intrigue and strategy fill their hours; love shortly follows.

Yella seems to be finally fulfilled, but voices from the past keep haunting her. What is her secret? Is her life too good to be true?
Does she have to pay a price for her happiness?

Young German director Christian Petzold must love ghost stories.
In fact, behind the mask of psychological essays, all his films talk about social ghosts, dropouts, losers forgotten and forsaken by the world.

Yella is no exception: its characters are framed in a state of unreal suspension, they float between a non-place and another; even the world of finance, although concretely illustrated by the film, feels more like a role play tournament.

The director’s fine eye for detail makes this movie believable and compelling despite (or because of) a sparse script.
Yella’s bright red shirt is the most distinctive element in Petzold’s sombre colour palette: every time she appears on screen we feel her constrained passion for life, her fears, her rage.

Nina Hoss, who plays Yella, is a star in Germany and has deservedly won the Golden Bear for the Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival this year.
But she is backed by powerful Devid Striesow as Philipp, extremely sensual and dominant if not a traditional heart-throb, and tragically frail Hinnerk Schonemann as Ben.

Christian Petzold keeps the flag of European cinema flying: may his films inspire a new generation of directors.

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