Review: Transfixing 'Undine' Makes an Old Myth Shine Brighter Than Ever

The tale of Undine, a water spirit hoping to find a mortal soul in a human lover, is old enough to have been subjected to revision upon revision by authors, artists, filmmakers, and other creative minds - almost like a game of telephone throughout history, if you will. But that doesn't take away from the huge impact the original 1811 novella by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué on German culture. Rather, the revisions embolden it as a testament of the futility of earthliness, wrapped up in a romance that you know the outcome of but still wish to continue experiencing.

Just when you thought this tale had enough to say, German filmmaker Christian Petzold updates it once again with his romantic drama "Undine." And, in classic Petzold fashion, the ensuing film is haunted by history but anchored by a realistic romanticism that befits a modern retelling of such a tale. Even more than a romance though, the film is interested in how the present story came to fruition through decades upon decades of urban development in Berlin, Germany.

It's very much like Petzold to create something so unmistakably unique yet tied to old conventions, but it's also an entirely different and narratively transcendent thing to steep such an old story in current cultural mores and still find the room to enrich each point of the story with the same cutting and ethereal truths inherent in myths. Yes, I know that was a bit of a long way to say that a film is more than transfixing, but it cannot be stressed enough here how much Petzold is working and flourishing in his chosen filmmaking mode: One that's languid, mysterious, and in love with storytelling.

Undine Wibeau (Paula Beer) is a beautiful historian living in Berlin and spending her days lecturing tourists about the history of urban development at a local historical center. She's in love with Johannes (Jacob Matschenz), but he does not feel the same and leaves her within the opening minutes of the film, not heeding to Undine's warnings that she'll have to kill her lover if he leaves. Soon after, Johannes leaves and Undine seems to have sidestepped fate; but then she meets Christoph (Franz Rogowski), an industrial diver who's immediately enchanted by Undine. The duo almost immediately, fatally enters into a relationship. But Undine still hasn't answered for her lost love in Johannes, and therefore cannot move on with Christoph unless she kills Johannes.

Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski already played a doomed-to-fail couple in Petzold's previous film "Transit," yet their chemistry is enriched even further here. One of the most romantic sequences of the film is when Undine, scantily clad in lingerie, reads a historical lecture to an equally scantily clad Christoph, who gets wrapped up in every word as if it was a siren's song. But Undine's song is one of a love for humanity's willingness and romanticism for building, constructing, enveloping the world. Yet, she's still tied to another realm and can only muse on it from the outside.

As for Petzold, he's working in the top of his form here as well, showing his love for classicism without getting carried away like other filmmakers. He frames Christoph and Undine's predicament as a gentle, yet futile, endeavor, pushing them both to come to terms with their attempt to twist fate to their will. You may not find a more enriching story to watch unfold this year, and you'll want to revisit it frequently as if it's a balm for your troubles. That's the power that "Undine" has.

"Undine" is now playing in select theaters and on VOD platforms,