Barbara (I) (2012)

A doctor working in 1980s East Germany finds herself banished to a small country hospital.

Director:

Christian Petzold

Writers:

Christian Petzold (screenplay), Harun Farocki (collaborator on screenplay)

Stars:

Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Rainer Bock

9 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nina Hoss	...	Barbara
Ronald Zehrfeld	...	André
Rainer Bock	...	Klaus Schütz
Christina Hecke	...	Assistenzärztin Schulze
Claudia Geisler	...	Stationsschwester Schlösser
Peter Weiss	...	Medizinstudent
Carolin Haupt	...	Medizinstudentin
Deniz Petzold	...	Angelo
Rosa Enskat	...	Hausmeisterin Bungert
Jasna Fritzi Bauer	...	Stella
Peer-Uwe Teska	...	Kellner im Ausflugslokal
Elisabeth Lehmann	...	Junge Kellnerin
Mark Waschke	...	Jörg
Peter Benedict	...	Gerhard
Thomas Neumann	...	Rentner am Auto

Storyline

In 1980s East Germany, Barbara is a Berlin doctor banished to a country medical clinic for applying for an exit visa. Deeply unhappy with her reassignment and fearful of her co-workers as possible Stasi informants, Barbara stays aloof, especially from the good natured clinic head, Andre. Instead, Barbara snatches moments with her lover as she secretly prepares to defect one day. Despite her plans, Barbara learns more about her life that puts her desires and the people around her in a new light. With her changing perspective, Barbara finds herself facing a painful moral dilemma that forces her to choose what she values.

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Plot Keywords:

east germany | germany | doctor | 1980s | hospital | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual material, thematic elements and smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [de] Official site [jp]

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

8 March 2012 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Bárbara

Filming Locations:

Kirchmöser, Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Schramm Film Koerner & Weber, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), ARTE

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed in chronological order.

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Goofs

Andre hands Barbara a cup of coffee, which she promptly drops. You see the shattered pieces of the cup on the floor, but no coffee.

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Soundtracks

"Nocturne g-moll Opus 15 No. 3"
Composed by Frédéric Chopin

User Reviews

That Wall did come down!

In the semi-darkness of 1980 East Germany, it's cold and dangerous. No more so than if you want to travel to freedom, as the titular doctor of Barbara (Nina Hoss) wishes to do. Except that her visa application ended her up in the provinces, a long way from her elite hospital in Berlin.

The tension in this intelligently-paced, smartly European character study cum thriller is palpable as Stasi agents stalk the doctor, searching relentlessly for the money she must have to plan her defection. Freedom becomes the leitmotif touching each plot point, whether it is her growing affection for her colleague, Andre (Ronald Zehrfeld), her passion for her West German lover, Jorg (Mark Waschke), or her humane love for her patients, especially her pregnant meningitis waif, Stella (Jasna Fritzi Bauer), whom she saves and protects.

Director Christian Petzold (whose family fled the German Democratic Republic) fashions a mise en scene uncluttered with people or objects, like the immaculate hospital itself. Even the film's pace is measured, at times almost listless. It's as if life has been pared down to its essential living or dying.

Nowhere is this sparseness more on display than in Dr. Barbara herself, a model of smug efficiency and secret longings, riding a bicycle to work like a schoolgirl who knows much more than she is giving out. Hanks Fromm's camera offers color and vibrancy during these times, a relief from the gloomy confines of her apartment. Her paranoia about everyone she works with, including Dr. Andre, partially creates this aura of self-centeredness more than the "Berlin" pride that others see.

The road she takes to work is lined with trees that blow ferociously with the ever present wind, like the ominous presence of local Stasi officer Klaus (Rainer Bock) who lets her know by random searches of her apartment and person that she will not escape. Her plans to go to Denmark form the action center of the film that in the end is really about the heart that beats under repression and the love that grows out of seemingly impossible freedom. That big Wall did come down, I recall!