Review of Barbara (2012) by Tim A — 08 Feb 2013

German screenwriter and director Christian Petzold`s sixth feature film which he co-wrote with Czech-born German screenwriter, producer and director Harun Farocki, premiered In competition at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in 2012, was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival in 2012, in the Horizons section at the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2007 and is a German production which was shot on location in Kirchmöser, in the town of Brandenburg an der Havel in Brandenburg, Germany and produced by German producer Florian Koerner Von Gustorf. It tells the story about Barbara, a doctor in East Germany who as a consequence of having signed a petition saying that she wishes to leave the German Democratic Republic, is sent to a small town near Berlin where she is to live and work at a pediatric surgery department. There she is introduced to her new boss André who is assigned to supervise her. André immediately takes a liking to her, but he doesn`t know that Barbara has a lover in West Germany and is planning to escape.

Distinctly and precisely directed by German filmmaker Christian Petzold, this fictional, suspensful and somewhat historic period drama which is narrated from the protagonist`s point of view, draws a carefully structured and concentrated portrayal of a woman whom whilst awaiting her opportunity to flee to West Germany to be with her lover and despite her predetermined attitude towards her new place of residence, begins to appreciate and care for her patients and her colleagues. While notable for it`s colorful and naturalistic countryside milieu depictions, sterling production design by production designer Kade Gruber, cinematography by German cinematographer Hans Fromm, fine costume design by UK-born German costume designer Anette Guther, editing by film editor Bettina Bölher and use of sound, this character-driven story about some of the many people who wanted to emigrate from communist DDR depicts a dense study of character and contains a good score by composer Stefan Will.

This quiet, nuanced and fragmented chamber-piece which is set against the backdrop of the socialist state of East Germany during a bright summer in the 1980s and has been chosen as Germany`s submission to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards in 2013, is impelled and reinforced by it`s cogent narrative structure, subtle character development, rhythmic pace, balanced continuity, underlying romantic tension, harmonic and foreboding atmosphere and the efficiently understated acting performances by German actress Nina Hoss in her fourth collaboration with Christian Petzold and German actor Ronald Zehrfeld who had a minor though noticable role in German screenwriter and director Christian Schwochow`s "Die Unsichtbare" (2011). A genuinly humane love-story and a rarely graceful mystery which gained, among other awards, the Silver Bear for Best Director Christian Petzold at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in 2012.