"Casablanca" for the 21st century
A man attempting to escape occupied France falls in love with the wife of a dead author whose identity he has assumed.
The German director Christian Petzold explores the phantoms of European migration and identity. His film Transit, an extraordinary anti-historical experiment, harbouring a number of melodramatic and political motifs, relocates the original story, taking place at the time of the Nazi occupation of France, into the present. The protagonist, Georg, assumes the identities of dead people, which allows him to obtain the necessary visas and flee the country, setting sail on one of the last ships leaving Marseille. By doing so, however, he also faces onerous consequences. After arriving in Marseille, he finds "his" wife, whom he knows from the letters written to her by her erstwhile husband. Is Georg, possessing a new identity, ready to assume a new relationship and new future?
France, Germany
DE, FR
Drama, Film-Noir
Christian Petzold
Christian Petzold, Anna Seghers
Bettina Böhler
Stefan Will
Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer, Godehard Giese
Now in TV
Film Europe+
Berlinale IFF
German Film Awards
Nominee | Outstanding Feature Film Nominee | Best Sound
"Provocative, even startling, and more edifying than you might expect."
"By turns intimate and expansive, "Transit" is a thrilling, at times harrowing labyrinth of a movie."
Bird People
In the Aisles