Phoenix follows Nelly (Nina Hoss), a former singer trying to pick up the pieces of her life after the end of World War II. A survivor of a concentration camp, Nelly was left for dead after being shot in the face, but undergoes reconstructive surgery in an attempt to regain her normal life. "How do you want to look?", asks the doctor, trying to give her the option to start life anew, but Nelly wants to look "exactly like I used to". But sometimes, the wounds are too deep, too severe, "it's never quite the same".
Phoenix a slow burner, as director and co-writer Christian Petzold takes his time to set the story, and build the characters. The fire you can feel from the three main performances also doesn't let the story feel stuck, but rather keeps it moving, wondering what will happen next. The film is not a thriller, but a more introspective character study as we see them each pondering their next steps, and what to do. How can we reconstruct, or recreate after... this?
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