Never Look Away review – powerful Gerhard Richter-inspired drama

A German boy who witnesses Nazi horrors grows up to become a painter in this overcooked but affecting melodrama

At a key early moment in German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s acclaimed art-drama/suspense-thriller hybrid (which reportedly received a 13-minute standing ovation at the Venice film festival last year), a young boy confronted by a terrible sight holds his hand in front of his eyes. At first, we think he’s doing it to blot out the spectacle of his beloved aunt Elisabeth (Saskia Rosendahl) being bundled into an ambulance in Nazi Germany. But the truth is more complex. As young Kurt (a wonderfully wide-eyed Cai Cohrs) holds his palm a few inches in front of his face, we see what he sees – the hand coming into close focus, rendering what’s behind it slightly blurry. When his hand drops down, the awful truth beyond remains momentarily fuzzy – creating the impression of seeing at one remove. As the ambulance doors slam shut, Elisabeth makes eye contact with her nephew and repeats an instruction that has become her mantra: “Never look away…”

That phrase, which echoes throughout the film’s three-hours-plus running time, became the English-language title. It’s quite different from the German original Werk Ohne Autor (work without author), a phrase once used by critics to describe the works of German artist Gerhard Richter, whose early life inspired the story (though Richter has pointedly distanced himself from the film).

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2S5TdWk