Dir:: Christian Petzold | Germany, Drama 2005
Ghosts is one of Petzold’s most rewarding Berlin-based dramas whose tightly plotted slow-burn storyline requires careful attention to fully appreciate its traumatic implications. Personal loss and social disorientation are the themes that gradually coalesce to a quietly devastating conclusion for Francoise, a French woman (Marianne Basler) whose disturbed state of mind, after losing her child, sees her becoming increasingly obsessed by Nina, a mousy teenager (Julia Hummer) who has lost her own moral compass and her way in the world after a life of institutional care. Francoise becomes convinced that Nina is Marie, her own child, who disappeared from outside a supermarket at the age of three. The women’s plight is increasingly pitiful and we feel for them both.
After witnessing an incident in the park in the film’s opening moments, Nina has formed a close relationship with wild-child Sabine (Timoteo), a less appealing character who takes advantage of Nina’s vulnerability and further de-stabilises the teenager’s fragile state of mind. Ghosts unfolds in Petzold’s characteristically clever and suspenseful way in the lush summery setting of the German capital.@MeredithTaylor
BERGAMO FILM MEETING 2025 | CHRISTIAN PETZOLD RETRO