A Berlinale familiar, the German Christian Petzold, born in 1960, and a newcomer, the Italian Giacomo Abbruzzese, born in 1983. Both have their films in competition and scored the 73e edition of the festival: Petzold with Afire (The Red Sky, its title in French), drama and romance with Rohmerian accents, where Paula Beer returns in majesty; Abbruzzese with disco boyhaunted portrait of a young Belarusian who enters the Legion, played by Franz Rogowski – revealed in Undine (2020) by Petzold, which won Paula Beer the Silver Bear for Best Actress, the circle is thus complete…
On the eve of the announcement of the winners, Saturday February 25, and while the forecasts are racing – who will receive the Golden Bear from the hands of Kristen Stewart, president of the jury? –, one thing at least is certain: the competition will have brought together seasoned filmmakers and new signatures – among the great discoveries, let us also mention Totem, by Mexican director Lila Avilés.
Each in its own way, Afire And disco boy succeed in capturing contemporary tragedies, by seeking the tools of cinema to sublimate them. In his tenth feature film, Christian Petzold succeeds in reinventing his language with grace and lightness, which is not given to everyone – we can also salute the overwhelming documentary by Nicolas Philibert, On the Adamantwhich will be released in theaters on April 19, as well as the Pasolinian Musicby Angela Schanelec (out March 8).
Second part of a trilogy started with Undine, Afire seduced first of all by its agile and surprising narrative, constantly reshuffling the cards between its protagonists. Four young people meet in the summer in a house by the sea, on the edge of a forest that will soon burn. Leon (Thomas Schubert), a promising author who is finishing his novel, and Felix (Langston Uibel), an art student, want to take advantage of these few days to advance their personal work. But Leon is out of inspiration, and he’s in a terrible mood.
Desire and fantasy
When they arrive, the two friends discover a surprise guest: Nadia (Paula Beer), radiant in her red dress, whom she will not leave throughout the film, sells ice cream during the season and squats in the largest room with David (Enno Trebs), her boyfriend of a few nights – a cliché of a lifeguard at sea, tanned and muscular.
Once these labels are placed like towels on the beach, Petzold takes off the scenario, reassigning the positions of each other during dialogues and epic scenes, which ring very true with the time. Around the table, desire circulates and mutates like a virus, not always where you expect it. When the story then takes a tragic turn, Afire, instead of overwhelming us, overwhelms us with the beauty of an image that emerges, belonging to the collective memory. Petzold believes in the power of art and myths (Undine) to go through the traumas, and we are grateful to him.
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