In the titular central German factory town—once the seat of Hitler’s auto industry—Philipp (Benno Fürmann), a self-absorbed luxury car salesman, flees the scene of an accident that injures a young boy. But when he meets the boy’s mother, a supermarket shelf-stocker played by Nina Hoss, the guilt-ridden Philipp becomes embroiled in a melodrama of lies, romantic obsession, and simmering class conflict. With this tangle of social, moral, and narrative threads, Petzold paints a portrait of a bitter-cold society in which values of responsibility and care are dissolving, and where the connections between people become hopelessly frayed. Courtesy of Austrian Filmmuseum.

Note: This 35mm print includes English and French subtitles.

Explore the Christian Petzold brochure flipbook or read below.