23 Oct 2013
Germany
2012
105 min
Director: Christian Petzold
Barbara is a doctor in the East Germany of 1980. As a punishment for political insubordination and an application to emigrate to the west, she has been removed from a prestigious position in Berlin and banished to a hospital in the provinces where she plans her escape. The simmering oppression and seediness of the times is elegantly captured in Barbara’s highly strung desperation as her defensive wall slowly starts to crumble. She is eventually forced to make a profound decision about her future. A film of glancing moments and dangerous secrets, Barbara paints a haunting picture of a woman being slowly crushed between the irreconcilable needs of desire and survival.