Yella

Howard Orr

An odd but thought-provoking mix of metaphysical exploration and a story that deals with complicated ideas of fealty and financial chicanery. It is most successful when its latent dark, absurd humour is made present.

Kelvane

I liked the tone and atmosphere of it, and the performance by the lead girl, but didn't quite understand it?

Lorna Singh

The unexpected ending perhaps explains why this film was so cold and lean.But,a second viewing is needed to appreciate the atmosphere created by the director.Which should give many clues.

suede

9/10. Deeply impressive stuff. Informed my dreams and only grew on me further the next day. This isn't even a genre film. Or perhaps: this is a realistic genre film resisting simple classification. It's so subtle and restrained in its supernatural elements. Carried by a brilliant performance from Striesow, alongside Hoss. There is so much attention to details here.

mpho3

*Spoiler* The "all just a dream" trope and its variants often don't work because they tend to feel like a cheat. But on occasion a director can nail the cinematic depiction of the late comedian Bill Hicks' infamous quote: "There is no such thing as death. Life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves." I thought about this film for days afterward and concluded, "Yes!"

Ioannis Papaloizou

Most of all I enjoyed watching the recurrence of Yella's bright red blouse. To me it felt like a bright signal amongst muted colors, understated situations, and the threat of violence. This movie reminded me how much I like thrillers.

Kaifu

The film provides an excellent potrayal of a woman's descent into madness, but unfortunately with one unforgivable flaw (in my opnion). This is not a good entry point to Petzold's work. Ghosts and The State I Am In (newly available on R1 DVD) are better choices if you haven't seen Petzold's films before.

Henri de Corinth

"Carnival of Souls" in Hannover. The protagonist's surname is Fichte, which could serve as fodder for a million 'film studies' term papers given this film's premise.