Review of The Nasty Girl (1990) by Neil R — 25 Sep 2013

An oddly cheeky and eccentric glance at the most sobering subject of the last century: the assent of ordinary German people to the monstrosity of Nazism. The film is a stylistic and tonal mess, a jarring blend of Brecht, Woody Allen and Michael Haneke.

Some scenes play out choppy, funny Amelie-style back story. Others have a curiously stagey, spotlit feel with back-projected black and white backgrounds. Extreme close-ups are suddenly employed, along with the odd moment of magic realism.

There are moments of slapstick. The rest of the film is reasonably realistic, with the more appropriate tension of an journalistic investigation drama. The style ruins the substance and you never really get a chance to empathise with either the title character or those surrounding her or indeed the Jewish victims she is supposedly campaigning to vindicate.

Ebert's verdict is spot on: "There is a story to be told here, but somehow you have to see straight through the movie to find it.".