Film Reviews

Yella

• Rating:
• Director: Christian Petzold.
• Starring: Nina Hoss, Devid Streisow, Heinrich Schonemann, Burghart Klaussner.
• Details: Germany / 89mins (15A).

Yella is a thriller for accountants, and yes, it is as exciting as that sounds. Number cruncher Yella (Hoss) accepts a job in Hanover to escape her loony ex-husband Ben (Schonemann). Hounding her for a reconciliation, Ben offers to drive her to the train station but careers off a bridge in an attempt to kill them both. They survive, but Yella's outlook on life changes forever. She meets Phillipp (Streisow), an equity company exec, and is introduced to the world of ruthless business deals. However, noises and voices from her past threaten to unsettle Yella's new life. Yella, we're told, is a thriller, but there's absolutely nothing thrilling about it. A drab, downbeat affair, director Petzold, commenting on the ramifications of a united Germany, sets his story in an empty, barren hinterland: there's no one on the streets, in the hotels, car parks or on the business premises (where the majority of the scenes are set). It's hard to talk about why the film is the way it is without giving away the ending; but rest assured, the twist does not repay the patience invested - and a lot a patience is called for. The plot is barely-there, and feels like it was cobbled together from the cut scenes of a far superior thriller. Is it worth an hour and a half of your life? No, not really.

Review by Gavin Burke