In an attempt to flee Nazi-occupied France, Georg assumes the identity of a dead author but soon finds himself stuck in Marseilles, where he falls in love with Maria, a young woman searching for her missing husband.
Direction
Petzold's radical choice: period story, contemporary everything else.
Acting
Rogowski's wounded stillness, Beer's searching desperation—devastating.
Writing
Narrator device that shouldn't work but absolutely guts you.
Director
Christian Petzold
Franz Rogowski
Georg
Paula Beer
Marie
Godehard Giese
Richard
Barbara Auer
Architect / Frau
Matthias Brandt
Bartender / Narrator
Sebastian Hülk
Paul
Àlex Brendemühl
Mexican Consul
Ronald Kukulies
Heinz
Maryam Zaree
Melissa
Emilie de Preissac
Chambermaid in Paris Hotel
Antoine Oppenheim
Binnet
Justus von Dohnányi
Conductor
Trystan Pütter
American Consul
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Petzold's 'transit' concept mirrors 2015 refugee crisis; modern clothes force viewers to confront historical parallels.
The narrator is revealed to be the bartender—we're hearing a story already processed through memory and loss.
DE
