“Undine†is a water nymph, working as a historian in Berlin, where as writer/director Christian Petzold’s movie opens, a guy is breaking up with her.
But the split isn’t overly emotional. Undine (Paula Beer) warns him that if he breaks up with her, she’ll have to kill him. He does anyway, taking his life in his own hands as she goes back to work leading tours of a giant model of Berlin.
But, Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) is seemingly spared when she -- in a novel twist on the “meet cute†formula -- gets an offer for a date from industrial diver Christoph (Franz Rogowski), only to have a giant fish tank collapse on them.
So begins a romantic fantasy transferred from the ancient myth “Ondine†to contemporary Berlin by Germany’s top filmmaker, who most recently made the World War II period masterwork “Transit.â€
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Petzold brings the “Transit†stars along with him. Rogowski, who looks a lot like Joaquin Phoenix, plays a very similar, sweet, loyal, risk-taking character.
But the real revelation here is Beer, Europe’s star of the moment, who won the best actress prize at the Berlin Film Festival for her performance as Undine.
Fully embodying the character, Beer is quiet, appropriately mysterious (you don’t go around telling people you’re a water nymph) and desperately looking for love. That she thinks she’s found it with Christoph is the kick off to the film’s surprisingly loyal treatment of the myth that at some point she has to return to the water.
“Undine†makes full use of its setting, delivering a history of Berlin and its architectural changes during her lectures, visiting some of those places through her window and on the train and, importantly, diving into the rivers that were key to the location of the city.
Diving with Undine in one of the rivers, Christoph finds her name and a heart painted on the footings of a bridge. Looking for her, she’s dropped her scuba equipment and floated away. He “rescues†her that time.
But, the movie and myth poignantly ask in the most romantic of fashions, can she be taken out of the water again?