Watch Yella For Free

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Although the way this film will end is probably there from the beginning anyone who complains about that is missing the point. The big pluses are the location, the atmosphere and the wonderful leading lady who was totally convincing as a bullied wife. Even viewed from the back she maintained her somewhat cowed attitude. I liked the hint at an unknown dimension of the spirit as she gained her freedom from her horrible husband. I also liked that the world Yella found herself in was strange and alienating but she adapted quickly because she was used to being pushed around. It's another film that demonstrates how much wiser and more satisfying European films are.

In Christian Petzold's film 'Yella', a young woman stalked by her husband after leaving him slowly rebuilds her life, and self-respect, through starting a relationship with a criminal businessman. But it's not clear how much of the story is real, and how much is the product of her traumatised mind. In its conclusion, the film resolves this question, and the answer is almost inevitably disappointing; the kick in the tail insufficiently surprising or satisfying. What is good, however, is most of what precedes the ending, as the viewer is drawn into a world intriguingly on the balance of normalcy and the sinister, as seen by a woman herself on the edge. It's nicely underplayed and there's scarcely a wasted scene; it's just a shame that the final resolution has little new to add.

It seems Yella (Nina Hoss) has next to nothing left to lose as she takes an accounting job in a nondescript business park two hours away from her hometown in present day Eastern Germany. But what little hope she still has - make a living, get away from her stalking ex-boyfriend - crumbles as the job opportunity dematerializes before she has even started. She is back to square one of the playing field, and she doesn't know the rules of the game. But Yella is a quick learner. On the spur of a moment, she attaches herself to a slightly shady private equity guy (Devid Striesow, don't miss him in "Eden"). As soon as they take their makeshift investment show to the road, Yella understands that there are fortunes to be won and lost on every deal. There is nothing obviously appealing about this movie: barren sets, uneventful plot, unassuming acting. But as you keep watching and wait for something to happen, Yella's quiet desperation gets to you. In many ways, the movie's gloomy surface is a metaphor of her desolate state of mind. Watch out for Barbara Auer's trophy wife guest appearance, and for a surprise ending reminiscent of William Golding's "Pincher Martin".

We can forgive wooden dialog, flat characters, and all manner of implausibilities, just so long as the story's a good one. But this film looks like a draft from a bad and very boring TV show: a bunch of scarcely-related, independently developed thematic elements are sliced, diced, and shuffled together into a melange of ideas precariously balanced on the teetering bones of a half-baked story. Pacing and sequencing is clumsy and amateurish. I made it through about one hour and I only got that far because I thought it HAD to get better - it just couldn't be this lousy and boring. It did not get better at all. I kept thinking, "How much longer can this pseudo-artistic film go on?"