![]() Hoss’ steely, wounded performance allows the film to walk thread that needle, but it’s the way she pulls down the façade that makes the film so memorable. We have to believe that Nelly (Nina Hoss) looks enough like her former self to fool her devious ex-husband, but also that the plastic surgery she received after surviving the Holocaust wasn’t so good that Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld) might think he’s manipulating the supposedly dead woman to whom he was once married. Now, to reiterate what the rest of us already know: “Phoenix” is the kind of movie that feels transparently reverse-engineered from its final scene - it’s also the kind of movie that requires some enormous leaps in logic to get there - but that doesn’t make the denouement of Petzold’s melodramatic postwar noir any less delectable. If you haven’t seen Christian Petzold’s “Phoenix,” we suggest you stop reading now (and rectify that immediately) the ending is just too damn good to be spoiled for you here. < span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block width: 0px overflow: hidden line-height: 0 ” class=”mce_SELRES_start”>  < /span> This life-or-death moment is where it starts. The plot of Ruben Östlund’s black comedy breakout doesn’t sound funny at first blush - a family almost dies in an avalanche, a husband and father reveals himself to be selfish, everything crumbles - but the film is actually a wicked dark comedy. Tomas only cares about himself, Ebba is left to pick up the pieces, and when he finally comes ambling back in, casual as anything, Ebba’s fury is impossible to overlook. It’s this scene, both humorous and genuinely chilling (does the snow really need to take over the frame for so long? You bet it does), that sets into motion the madness that’s to come. As soon as the going gets rough, he’s out of there, leaving behind his wife and children, booking it as far away as possible, gone. Still, it’s out of control, and as the avalanche rushes towards the patio, a real terror grips both the players and the audience, though no one is more terrified than Tomas, who runs - fast, and without looking back. “But it’s controlled,” her always-unruffled husband (Johannes Kuhnke as Tomas) tosses off, wholly unbothered, his entire approach to life and emotional philosophy bundled up in one slight sentence. Then, the low rumble and flurry of snow moving swiftly from the edge of the frame, clear enough to draw away the attention of a lunchtime crowd, loud enough to inspire at least one concerned parent (Lisa Loven Kongsli as Ebba, the only concerned parent, as we later come to know) to sit straight and pay attention. & amp lt span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block width: 0px overflow: hidden line-height: 0 ” class=”mce_SELRES_start”& amp gt  & amp lt /span& amp gt įirst, there’s the crack of dynamite kicking it off.
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