Release Date : Dec 21, 2012 Limited
Genre Movie :Art House & International,Drama
Actors :Nina Hoss,Ronald Zehrfeld,Rainer Bock,Christina Hecke,Claudia Geisler,Peter Weiss,Carolin Haupt,Deniz Petzold,Rosa Enskat,Jasna Fritzi Bauer,Peer-Uwe Teska,Elisabeth Lehmann,Mark Waschke,Peter Benedict,Thomas Neumann,Anette Daugardt,Thomas Bading,Susanne Bormann,Jannik Schümann,Alicia von RittbergMpaa Rating : PG-13
Plot Story : Winner of the Best Director prize at this year's Berlin Film Festival, the latest film from Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow) is a simmering, impeccably crafted Cold War thriller, starring the gifted Nina Hoss-in her fifth lead role for the director-as a Berlin doctor banished to a rural East German hospital as punishment for applying for an exit visa. As her lover from the West carefully plots her escape, Barbara waits patiently and avoids friendships with her colleagues-except for Andre (Ronald Zehrfeld) the hospital's head physician, who is warmly attentive to her. But even as she finds herself falling for him, Barbara still cannot be sure that Andre is not a spy. 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. Germany's official Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film.
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TagLine BarbaraVisitor Ranting and Critics For Barbara
Critics Ranting For Barbara : 7.7Critics Percentage For Barbara : 93 %
User Ranting Movie Barbara : 3.7
User Count Like for Barbara : 2,798
Review For Movie Barbara
It persuades us early on that its aura of political tension and suspicion, its taciturnity, its very strictness of silent observation as it begins, are fostering an intelligent thriller.Stanley Kauffmann-The New Republic
Though the film runs a mere 105 minutes, it weighs on viewers like an eternity.
Colin Covert-Minneapolis Star Tribune
The movie examines the possibility of maintaining one's humanity in a truly oppressive society.
Walter V. Addiego-San Francisco Chronicle
Hoss, wearing her blond hair pulled back tight, and wearing an expression of inscrutable melancholy, gives a performance that doesn't feel like a performance at all.
Steven Rea-Philadelphia Inquirer
The occasional ravings of the patients, ringing off the walls in Petzold's measured quiet, provide an appropriate backdrop to the heroine's need for freedom, yet the movie's politics never trump its humanity.
J. R. Jones-Chicago Reader
This is well-trod ground for Petzold, but never has it been so fully realized, so palpable, as in "Barbara."
Sheila O'Malley-Chicago Sun-Times
Hoss is such a star, one of the finest actresses in the world. Her work with Petzold is exceptional, but I find myself wondering what Fassbinder would have done with her.
Christopher Long-Movie Metropolis
A quietly tense drama ... builds slowly to its conclusion, as subtly powerful as it is inevitable.
Eric D. Snider-About.com
Barbara offers us historically motivated immorality offset by some heartfelt sensitivity, a side order of depression, and finishes off with some ennobling hope. It's definitely one of the best foreign films of the year.
Elias Savada-Film Threat
This is a remarkably subtle movie, spending most of its energy zeroing in on the clenched face of its heroine, looking for cracks.
Jeffrey M. Anderson-Combustible Celluloid
A low-key, tenuous romance characterised by its sparse, deliberately paced storytelling.
Aaron Yap-Flicks.co.nz
A quietly absorbing character study.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)-St. Paul Pioneer Press
Isn't a tightly wound story of sacrifice, yet its distance is alluring, retaining secrets and motivations, building to a satisfying conclusion.
Brian Orndorf-Blu-ray.com
An intelligent, mature love triangle...It also functions as a tense, rarefied thriller about escape from a police state, as well the kind of medical procedural drama audiences gorge upon.
Richard von Busack-MetroActive
That sense of nervous dislocation that the viewer feels in the first few scenes - Where am I? Who is this person? Is she friend or foe? - efficently evokes the muted terror that its characters feel.
Rob Thomas-Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Petzold renders Communist oppression in a provocatively muted manner.
Ben Kenigsberg-Time Out Chicago
Stories of characters like Barbara continue to have meaning, even in a "free" society.
Kelly Vance-East Bay Express
Engrossing Cold War thriller and love story set in East Germany in 1980.
Dennis Schwartz-Ozus' World Movie Reviews
In short, the failures in storytelling detract from the film, despite its sensitivities, its subtleties and its final payoff of personal sacrifice.
Andrew L. Urban-Urban Cinefile
A meticulously crafted drama in which the depiction of character, place and circumstance evolves slowly and with intrigue, Barbara is gripping cinema
Louise Keller-Urban Cinefile