Review: 'Afire' is a comedy-drama with a tone palette all its own — and another stellar performance from Paula Beer
German director Christian Petzold shows with his new film, “Afire,” that he’s not going to go where you think — though those of us who saw his wartime refugee drama “Transit” or his mermaid tale “Undine” already knew that.
Leon (Thomas Schubert) and his friend, Felix (Langston Uibel), are driving to a cabin near the Baltic Sea for a few days of isolation. Leon is a novelist, trying to put the last touches on his second book before showing it to his publisher, Helmut (Matthias Brandt), who’s expected to visit in a few days. Felix is trying to get into art school, and is supposed to be working on his photography portfolio for his application.
Felix is less interested in working and more interested in hanging out, and going down to the beach — though the beach does inspire his creative juices. Leon, trying to do some writing at the cabin, finds himself creatively blocked, in part because he has a sinking feeling his book isn’t very good.
There’s also the matter of Nadja, played by the extraordinary German actress Paula Beer, who worked with Petzold in both “Transit” and “Undine.” Nadja was staying in the cabin before the guys arrived (the owner, Felix’s mom, forgot that she double-booked), and so Leon is annoyed that he has to share a room with Felix, and is kept awake by Nadja’s boisterous lovemaking with Devid (Enno Trebs), a lifeguard — excuse me, “rescue swimmer” — who works on the beach.
When Devid joins the three for dinner one evening, Leon gets snippy, eye-rolling at the idea of being a professional “rescue swimmer.” Nadja, later, calls him out on his snobbery, leading Leon to apologize for his rudeness and stupidity. This becomes a pattern in their interactions, and Nadja puts up with in in part because she recognizes that Leon is using his boorishness to hide his fears about showing the book to Helmut.
While all this is happening, occasionally they talk about the forest fires that are some 30 kilometers away from the cabin — and whether they might get closer.
Petzold, as writer and director, shows a mastery of tone here, but he keeps the audience off guard by not striking the tone one would expect. Leon’s bad behavior, and his banter with Nadja, has the structure of a comedy, but Petzold plays it so low-key that you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a drama. The way you know it’s not a drama is that, at a certain point, real drama enters the room and hits your heart like a freight train.
The ensemble cast is solid, but Beer — the only woman among the main actors — is naturally a standout. A lesser actress, working with a less assured director, would turn Nadja into a “manic pixie dream girl” character, too offbeat and too perfect to be believable. Nadja has some of those qualities, but Beer makes them feel like part of a complicated, very human character. Beer’s charisma is like a wildfire, bright and hot, but she definitely knows how to control it.
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‘Afire’
★★★1/2
Opens Friday, August 11, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City). Not rated, but probably PG-13 for sexual content and some intense fire images. Running time: 103 minutes; in German, with subtitles.