This film is loosely based on the eponymous 1944 novel by Anna Seghers. As in the book, the film juxtaposes past, present and future. We follow Georg, a technician for German radio and television and an illegal refugee in France, who is given, by a partner, the mission to deliver two letters to a writer in Paris. Georg discovers that the writer has committed suicide and left an unfinished novel, which brings to mind Walter Benjamin’s tragic death in 1940, also in France. The sinister circumstances lead Georg to impersonate the late writer in order to get a visa and escape to Mexico. 

The particular timeless character of the story takes a clear stance towards social and political issues that are still current.

Last year we opened Mostra with Western, a film by Petzold’s fellow student at the “Berlin School”, Valeska Grisebach, which showed another point of view, less metaphoric but equally critical of a Europe and a world that forces people into geographical mobility and marginality, thus encouraging types of relationships that do not develop fluidly.

2018: Festival de Berlim:  Selecção Oficial de longa-metragens em competição 
2018: BAFICI:  Selecção Oficial (Fora de Concurso) 
2018: Prémios do Cinema Alemão: Nomeada Melhor Filme, Melhor Som