Undine, 2020.
Written and directed by Christian Petzold.
Starring Paula Beer, Franz Rogowski, and Maryam Zaree.
SYNOPSIS:
Undine works as an historian lecturing on Berlin’s urban development. But when the man she loves leaves her, the ancient myth catches up with her. Undine has to kill the man who betrays her and return to the water.
Christian Petzold (Barbara, Transit) offers up a contemporary riff on the titular legend – a water-dwelling entity which can transmute to human form by falling in love, but in the event that her lover strays, she will be compelled to kill him.
Petzold’s film presents little hand-holding for those unfamiliar with the myth – to date most popularly realised by Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Neil Jordan’s 2009 Colin Farrell-starring Ondine – but nevertheless imbues a quietly haunting love story with an offbeat, intoxicating power.
Undine (Paula Beer) works as a freelance historian at the Berlin Senate, and in the film’s very first scene is sternly warning her now-ex-boyfriend Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) that she’ll have to kill him for ditching her. However, Undine puts this plan on the back-burner when she meets an underwater welder, Christoph (Franz Rogowski), with whom she enjoys an immediate and intense meet-cute.
Though audiences would be forgiven for expecting a slow ramping-up of the otherworldly, Petzold actually plays his premise incredibly straight and restrained for the most part, approaching the supernatural in a largely grounded way. We spend surprisingly little time underwater throughout Undine’s scant 90-minute runtime, with a subtly heightened aspect instead fused with more typical romantic melodrama.
Indeed, anyone waiting for proceedings to descend into an out-and-out thriller off the back of that ominous opening warning should be advised that the bulk of the movie is far more interested in the trajectory of Undine and Christoph’s love story. Darkness certainly abounds in the third act, as a slew of upsetting acts snowball towards a deeply affecting ending, but those bracing for uncanny weirdness may be left disappointed by just how stark it really is.
Petzold’s focus lies less in supernatural hooey than it does the aching sting of love and longing, as is elucidated quite wonderfully by a well-wrought performance from Paula Beer, who won the Silver Bear Award for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year.
Though Franz Rogowski makes for an appealingly laid-back screen partner, the film absolutely belongs to Beer, her luminous presence aptly conveying Undine’s allure, even as her oft-furrowed brow implies layers of palpable heartbreak percolating underneath.
After all, so little of Undine’s backstory is laid out to viewers, who are free to speculate that Undine’s job as an historian, rooted in the rich history of Berlin, may suggest that she’s seen far more than any single human being can really imagine. As intriguing as this is, the numerous delineated, disjointed quasi-lectures about Berlin’s past do feel a touch discursive for a film clocking in at such a modest length.
True to its script, Petzold’s pared-down direction is abetted by straight-forward yet effective lensing from DP Hans Fromm, who makes the most of the movie’s brief forays into the drink, especially when capturing Christoph’s recurring encounters with a gigantic, legendary catfish. The technical package is also nicely classed-up by the use of Bach – again, perhaps nodding to Undine’s prolonged existence – and the amusing invocation of The Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive,” the rhythm of which is commonly used to train medical professionals to perform chest compressions.
This wistful tale of romantic anguish may be too subdued for those craving a dishy supernatural love story, yet derives considerable power from Paula Beer’s nuanced central performance.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Shaun Munro – Follow me on Twitter for more film rambling.
Originally published October 12, 2020. Updated October 11, 2020.
