Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!
There is a fine line in Christian Petzold’s films where the magical and supernatural just bang at the door and then take a glimpse through the cracks in the panelling. For the longest time, his movies are set in the here and now, and only dip their toes across the fantastical border if they need to. Said that, of course Petzold is sometimes drawn to that border, but is too smart a filmmaker to cross it too soon, or with too much showing off. Remember the water towards the end of Yella (2007)?
Well, yes,, of course Petzold goes all out in Undine, a story about a woman who could also be a mermaid. There is no longer any restraint about crossing into the realm of the fantastic, but think about how Petzold walks that fine line with Phoenix (2014), where a disfigured character is portrayed in such a strange manner that there are otherworldly aspects about her. She doesn’t talk, she hides under the bedsheets or under a coat and hardly ever speaks. Seen in this light, the disfigured woman is closer to Eraserhead than to The English Patient, although Phoenix is essentially a story set during the Second World War.
Barbara (2012) is strange in another way. Petzold’s muse Nina Hoss seems so passive and shut down that I started wondering if she was real – or if only the doctor interested in her could see her, as if she was some sort of intriguing female projection of his.
There also seems to be a very real and a metaphorical side to the wildfires in Afire (2023), Petzold’s latest movie. He is very good at letting his tropes have two or more sides so that you never know where you are at. On the surface, his films may look simple, but like with any good storyteller, he does not let you in on where the story might be going next.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 
I love how Petzold’s films walk the fine line between reality and fantasy, always keeping the audience guessing. His storytelling is masterful!