Phoenix (2014)

A woman (Nina Hoss) has survived the Auschwitz concentration camp but she has been disfigured and needs plastic surgery. The results are less than ideal. She searches through the wreck that is post war Berlin for her husband (Ronald Zehrfeld) who believes her dead. When she finds him, he doesn't recognize her but since she "looks" like his dead wife, he concocts a plan where she will pretend to be the wife in order to collect her sizable inheritance and they will split the proceeds. Based on the novel LE RETOUR DES CENDRES by Hubert Monteihet which was previously filmed in 1965 with Maximilian Schell and Ingrid Thulin. I've not read the novel but I suspect the first film was closer to the source material. This is a marvelous film. Though reviews have used descriptions like noir and Hitchcockian (though there's a touch of VERTIGO present), I don't think either terms apply. It's a strong melodrama that explores a woman's attempt to come alive again by connecting with her past only to find that her past is as "dead" as she is. As the survivor, Nina Hoss gives a richly textured performance, the best by an actress I've seen so far this year (the film opened in Germany last year but is only now opening in the U.S. though it's done the film festival circuit). To discuss too much will rob it of its emotional core. Expertly directed by Christian Petzold. Go see it. With Nina Kunzendorf, also excellent.