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I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Nina Hoss, who was brilliant in "Barbara", once again plays an injured woman trying to resurrect her life. In this case, she has been a victim in a concentration camp. However, what happens to Nelly could have happened in Cambodia (someone surviving the camps) or in Argentina (a desaparecida), etc. The story is universal: how can we, who have not been through such horror, possibly understand what it means. How can those who are trying to return to 'normal' life possibly succeed?Ronald Zehrfeld, as 'Johnny', Nelly's former husband, doesn't recognise her and bullies her into trying to become the Nelly who existed before the war. What an existential feat -- becoming one's self while being one's self. Johnny himself was a pianist, but his life has undergone dramatic changes and he is reduced to cleaning a nightclub for a living.Another character, played by Nina Kunzendorf, tries to persuade Nelly to join her in Israel in the Jewish homeland. Again, no one seems to care what Nelly wants, or what she has been through. This film is perfectly portrays the persecution of one victim by a whole cast of characters thinking only of themselves. For me it asked the question: how we will treat a growing number of humans on our planet who have been through similar hells?

Phoenix is a movie with a simple yet exquisite plot-perfect for storytelling. A Holocaust survivor named Nelly, who was so disfigured that she had to have facial reconstruction surgery, returns to Berlin in the aftermath of the war. She doesn't recognize herself, and designs to find out if others have the same predicament. Nelly's desire is to find her husband Johnny, who may have betrayed her to the Nazis; but, it is more than just a detective story. It tactfully makes grand statements about what occurs in a society post-tragedy.Phoenix is the name of a club where she happens upon her former lover. If there romance had been uninterrupted, it could be a place where she sang while he played the piano. Now, when she approaches him, Johnny appears to not recognize Nelly, yet he comes up with a use for her. He makes a deal with his "newfound" acquaintance to obtain his wife's sizable inheritance. He will teach her to impersonate his wife, and they will split the money. Nelly agrees to the plan.When Nelly tells her survivor friend, Lene, what she has been up to, she is understandably horrified. She had no such reaction to Nelly's physical appearance at any time, but the idea to her that she is in a way back with her husband greatly upsets her. As the audience, our immediate reaction is to side with Lene, and see Nelly as the fragile one; however, the movie brilliantly turns preconceived notions we would have on its head.The central question is not did Johnny do it, but can love survive such tragic circumstances. When he talks about his former wife in instructing his new partner, it is evident that he stills feels for her; and, by the turmoil Nelly puts herself through, it is evident that she still feels for him. But, can such feelings overcome what one lover has possibly done to another? Can love exist in a world shaped by the Nazis?At one point, Nelly says, "I no longer exist." It is this concept she expresses that permeates the movie. We think of the victims of tragedy as having been shaped most by it, but the movie argues that it is not them that are principally changed so much as those who were "forced" to participate in crime. Nelly does exist, but it is a truth that society refuses to face. Johnny, and others we come across, have been transformed by their participation. He is more of a tragic character than she is.Lene is actually less strong than Nelly. Nelly searches for what still is, while she is stuck in the past. We come to learn that Nelly is the truly fearless person. She seeks to go on, but before she does that, she must find out where she fits. Phoenix not only works because it's carefully constructed, but also because the two central actors are great, which it requires. Nina Hoss as Nelly and Ronan Zehrfeld as Johnny deliver two of the best performances of the year. Without them, the story would seem like a fantasy.Nelly reminds me of Holocaust victims I have seen speak. She is not hateful; she is simply incessant that we come to the truth. Survivors are very grateful for the attention, and desire more than anything to have their story exist in our world. They want us to not turn our heads away, but to learn, so that such horrors do not reoccur. Our realization is how they can heal.

I have to say that the first act of the film I really loved. I thought the film was going into some really interesting terrain and I have to be honest, when the time came for the actual plot of the film to be revealed and I knew what it would be about, I was disappointed. Not that the storyline was particularly bad, I just thought it would hit even more interesting notes. As it is, the film itself is pretty good. It's poetic and haunting and very elegant, and it has some fine performances. Nina Hoss in particular (who I immediately recognized in her role this season of Homeland) does some captivating work with her eyes, and it is perhaps one of the best leading performances of the year.

What a movie.Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, and Nina Kunzendorf star in "Phoenix," a 2014 film based on the French novel "Return from the Ashes". There was a previous film made from this novel, actually called Return from the Ashes in 1965. I remembered seeing that movie as a kid and finally found it again. It's very good, but this film is better.Nina Hoss plays Nelly, a concentration camp survivor who was shot in the face. A government worker, Lena (Kunzendorf) in charge of helping victims, brings her to a plastic surgeon. Nelly is adamant that she wants to look exactly as she did before. The doctor can only promise to try. When she asks Lena who is paying for all this, Lena tells her that her entire family is dead and she has come into quite a bit of money.When Nelly sees herself, the face is foreign to her and she says, "I don't exist." She stays in an apartment with Lena. Lena has found an apartment for her in Palestine, where Lena is also moving.Nelly wants to find her husband Johnny (Zehrfeld), a non-Jew, but Lena cautions her that he betrayed her to the Nazis. She was a singer and he a pianist, so she goes to various clubs, but finally finds him working in a club called Phoenix as a dishwasher.Johnny doesn't recognize her, but he asks her if she wants some work. He explains to her that he can't get his hands on his wife's money. He wants her to impersonate Nelly, show up alive, claim her inheritance, and in return, he will pay her.At first, Nelly refuses, then relents. He shows her a photo of Hedy Lamar and says his wife modeled herself on that.Nelly returns to Lena and tells her that she's going to do the impersonation and not go to Palestine. She will stay with Johnny. She knows he would never have betrayed her.Director Christian Pezold has woven noirish tapestry about survival, love, betrayal, and guilt. It is reminiscent of Vertigo but with the specter of the Holocaust, much deeper and intense. Nina Hoss is beyond perfection as Nelly, desperate for her old life, her old face, her husband, to wipe out all she has suffered. Like Zehrfeld, she says more with her expressions than with dialogue. Zehrfeld as Johnny presents a disturbing puzzle of denial and horrific guilt, so unbearable that he tries to recreate Nelly.The last scene in this film, in its simplicity, is stunning and powerful.A brilliant film, which you may want to view more than once to pick up details along the way.