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Yella

2007 1h 29m Drama Romance Mystery & Thriller List
82% Tomatometer 56 Reviews 54% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
A near-death experience causes a woman to relive someone else's final moments.
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Yella

Yella

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Critics Consensus

Chilly and haunting, Yella's atmosphere gets under the skin.

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Critics Reviews

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Chris Darke Film Comment Magazine Petzold, a leading light of the current generation of young German filmmakers, succeeds in making the modern world strange again. Nov 14, 2013 Full Review Hank Sartin Time Out Rated: 3/5 Nov 18, 2011 Full Review Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times This unusual film has all the appearance of simply being a well-done drama, but there is considerably more on writer-director Christian Petzold's mind. Rated: 4/5 Sep 19, 2008 Full Review Martin Tsai New York Sun The film serves as an allegory about former East Germans yearning to attain capitalist success, only to find disillusionment in an economic climate of mergers and layoffs. Apr 21, 2023 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Christian Petzold's Yella is an unassuming story with a powerful metaphor about the complexities of German reunification Rated: 3.5/4 Feb 18, 2022 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills 2007's cool psychological suspense piece Yella, with Hoss as a woman who can't quite escape her troubled past, was one of the first films that made the international reputations of both its star and her frequent director Christoph Petzold. May 27, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (85) audience reviews
Xav N Brilliant. For me on the same level as Hagazussa and the Noonday Witch. All absolute must-watches Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 07/21/23 Full Review dave s In an effort to escape abuse from her estranged husband, a young woman relocates and finds dubious employment in a distant city working for a larcenous corporate schemer. It all sounds fairly straightforward until a series of mildly surreal events cause her to doubt her own state of mind. Yella is a sparse and intriguing German film from director Christian Petzold, whose films feel eerily similar in style and substance to the movies of Michael Haneke. Over its brief running time, the subtle twists and puzzling events keep you invested in the story…until the final scene, which feels like a horrible cop-out and, sadly, diminishes much of what came before. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review william k Coolly atmospheric reimagination of Carnival of Souls in a contemporary German setting shifts its focus onto a world of surreal business dealings and ambiguous personal relationships; Nina Hoss is excellent in the title role as a woman torn between escape and new entanglements. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Another film from the Berlin School's Christian Petzold, Yella is an often interesting drama that showcases a performance by Nina Hoss. This film may easily bore American audiences but that does not make it any less impactful. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member I grew up in Germany and always refused to give up on German film although t just keeps disappointing me. Nina Hoss has starred in some interesting productions, so I was very interested to see this critically acclaimed feature film. The story follows Yella, a young accountant accepting a job in a big city in GDR. She leaves behind her broke husband who is obsessing over her. The film shows Yella working with a businessman as an advisor (it was not perfectly clear what they actaully do) and develop as she is faced with the capitalistic business world. Nina Hoss gives an intense performance and carries the whole movie effortlesly. It's a study of the lead person's character but also the world at that time. "Yella" is a mellow thriller without bombastic effects but emotion-based suspense and anticipation. The ending is unexpected and invites you to think about the what ifs. It's probably not the movie that will find a place in your DVD favorites but it's well worth to fill an evening of entertained watching and deep thinking. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member An interesting and well shot film, but with messy and odd story telling. Better movies with similar plot paths are Swimming Pool (2003), and Stay (2005)among others. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis A near-death experience causes a woman to relive someone else's final moments.
Director
Christian Petzold
Producer
Florian Koerner von Gustorf
Screenwriter
Simone Bär, Christian Petzold
Production Co
Schramm Film Koerner & Weber, Arte, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen
Genre
Drama, Romance, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
German
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 18, 2010
Runtime
1h 29m
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