‘Afire’ Review: Creative Crises Steadily Blaze in the Latest From Christian Petzold
Courtesy of Janus Films.
So far this summer, huge swathes of the Eastern region of North America have been plagued by smoggy skies caused by raging wildfires like never before, altering our everyday lives from heinous air quality to throwing wrenches in holiday travel plans. Curiously, this apocalyptic moment has echoed the happenings of Afire, the latest work from Christian Petzold, one of Germany's most brilliant working filmmakers. In a detour from his recent preoccupations with Germany's intricate past through films like Phoenix, Transit, and Undine, Afire feels firmly placed in the contemporary, a time when selfishness always seems to prevail, even as the world burns around us.
Afire revolves around Leon (Thomas Schubert), who heads to a quiet beachfront town on the Baltic Sea for a working vacation with his friend, Felix (Langston Uibel). Just before their car breaks down en route, Felix mutters the film's first line: "Something's not right," setting the twisting tone for the vacation to come. Finally arriving at their lodging, a cozy cottage owned by Felix's family, their solitude is shattered by the revelation that Felix's mother has already allowed a family friend to come to stay, a young woman named Nadja (played by frequent Petzold collaborator Paula Beer), whose enigmatic presence burrows under Leon's skin before they ever officially meet. Hoping to be inspired by the peaceful surroundings to finish their latest projects, the two men face entirely polar holidays as their respective creative processes take their experiences in different directions, with a wildfire drawing ever closer to obliterating their idyllic environment.
Afire diverges from the meticulous intellect of Petzold's other recent work to deliver a much more intimate character study reminiscent of the passionate traditions of European vacation films from directors like Éric Rohmer. With its hyper-focus on just a handful of characters and almost single setting in the beach cottage, Petzold can give the inner workings of his subjects intricately detailed attention through the film's direction, screenplay, and camera work. While romantic elements are present in many of Petzold's movies, typically analyzed through a central couple, he excavates a fascinating sexual tension that bubbles just below the surface of nearly every scene in Afire, emphasizing the complex dynamics of power and desire shared by its characters.
Courtesy of Janus Films.
In exploring the psyches of his characters, Petzold places the most concentration on Leon, who can be understood as a younger, naively pretentious version of the director himself. Leon hopes to use his holiday to finish his second book manuscript, a fictional work called Club Sandwich. In the lead-up to an important meeting with his publisher, Leon's attitude becomes increasingly tempestuous as he has difficulty focusing on the task at hand, questioning the quality of his work. Dealing with the people around him, Leon is condescending and critical, allowing his own insecurities to shine through as he lashes out and isolates himself within his creative crisis. Leon's bleak outlook bleeds into all corners of his persona, particularly showcased in a rather laughable scene in which he heads to the beach wearing head-to-toe black and continually refuses to take a swim in the ocean, making his character mirror the stereotypically misanthropic artists we all know and hate. Leon is almost the film's antagonist, sequestering himself from his peers through doubt and self-consciousness.
Leon's companions on his vacation serve as the antithesis to his own self-doubt, particularly through the perspective of Nadja's character. Initially encountered by Leon through her dirty dishes strewn across the house and the sounds of her midnight trysts through the walls, Nadja remains a mystery until officially entering the film's narrative belatedly into its runtime. At first, Nadja's background is unknown: Leon thinks she is a seasonal worker at an ice cream stand near the seaside. This perception of Nadja entitles Leon to look down on her, as he does on most people he sees as intellectually or socially inferior. Nadja's warm spirit, confidence, and insight allow her to be connected with the world around her in ways that Leon cannot, which entices him in modes he refuses to acknowledge. As Leon slowly ––sometimes begrudgingly –– opens up to Nadja, she can read him with an honesty that affects him so deeply, something others cannot do. In one of the film's most pivotal scenes, Nadja asks Leon, "Do you even see anything around you?"
Minimal but effective, the crafts behind Afire contribute significantly to the film's overall mood and sensibility. As a diegetic leitmotif introduced in the movie's first frame, the song In my Mind by Austrian indie-pop group Wallners appears throughout, contributing to the film's subdued tone in a manner that speaks to Leon's introverted mindset. Frequent Petzold collaborator Hans Fromm handles the cinematography for Afire, delivering beautifully framed shots with minimal flourishes, keeping the characters and their performances in the spotlight at all times. The film's production team built the vacation home where Leon and Felix stay, leaving plenty of windows and doorways through which the subjects can be effectively framed, often distancing them from one another, particularly Leon.
Courtesy of Janus Films.
Minimal in its framework, Afire is the type of creation that warrants multiple watches, with its nuanced character studies delivering deeper impact the more a viewer can immerse into the film. Through its storytelling, Afire speaks to the circumstances of our current age more intriguingly than any of Petzold's other works, concentrating on the conditions of human self-involvement as the world falls into total ruin, a statement that can speak to any contemporary audience. As Leon finally opens himself up to the world, it is entirely too late, the fires have drawn too near, and their destruction is omnipresent. Afire made its world premiere in the early months of 2023 at the Berlin Film Festival, where it was awarded the prestigious runner-up prize, the Silver Bear. After gaining universal acclaim out of Berlin, the movie was picked up for North American distribution by partners Sideshow and Janus Films, well-known for their curated arthouse releases. Afire will begin its theatrical release in the U.S. this Friday, July 14, in Los Angeles and New York City.
4/5
To find showtimes near you, visit Afire’s official website.