Keswick Film Club - Phoenix

Synopsis

Nelly has survived the concentration camp, but only just; she has been shot in the face. The surgery she goes through leaves her unrecognizable. In post-war Berlin, she goes looking for her husband, Johnny. Convinced Nelly has been killed, he assumes she is just very like his dead wife; he asks Nelly to pretend to be herself to collect her inheritance...

This "noir-ish and complex emotional thriller" - Cath Clarke, Time Out - takes us on an Hitchcockian rollercoaster; did Johnny betray her to the Nazis? Does she want revenge, or her old life back? Should she be supporting the birth of Israel?

Their joint ability to play out what seems impossible (he not recognizing her, she not admitting who she is) can be seen as an allegory of German society's attempt to deny reality...but where is it heading..?