Christian Petzold is a German director of considerable skill who may never make anything as direct as The Lives of Others. But in this film he gets a performance from Nina Hoss good enough to win her Best Actress at the Berlin Festival.
She plays a young East German who leaves for what was then West Germany, chased by her psychotic ex-husband who drives her to the airport, crashing his car into the river on the way. Miraculously, she climbs out and reaches her new job in the West only to find her erstwhile boss has gone bust.
But she's clearly a survivor. A young executive takes a chance with her and finds she has an amazing knack as a negotiator. But is her new life too good to be real? Why does her past come back to haunt her? The twist comes in the final reel, but you should note that when Yella climbs out of the river, she still has her high heels on.
Yella
Cert: 12A
