film

This is a quiet and exquisitely controlled drama from director Christian Petzold, set in East Germany in 1980. Nina Hoss, who you may know from Tar, plays the titular character, an East Berlin doctor exiled to a rural hospital after unsuccessfully applying to leave the country. Under constant surveillance by the Stasi, Barbara navigates a life of suspicion and restraint, her movements watched, her motives questioned. Petzold builds tension through stillness rather than spectacle, using landscape and silence to reflect the psychological pressure of the regime.

As Barbara plots her escape to the West, her relationship with a quietly empathetic colleague, played by Ronald Zehrfeld, complicates her resolve. The film becomes less about political intrigue than moral choice: whether to flee or to stay and care for others. These screenings are part of a short Petzold season at Filmoteca, see filmoteca.cat/web/ca/cicle/christian-petzold-da-festival-de-cinema.