Reviews by Anne-Katrin Titze

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Dior And I (2014)

  Review preview for Dior And I

  Frédéric Tcheng's documentary about a house and its ghosts in past and present is all you could desire from a fashion film.

  A look inside the House of Dior as Raf Simons prepares his collection.
• 
  The Double (2013)

  Review preview for The Double

  I wished for Billy Wilder's spirit from The Apartment to take over the tone just a little bit.

  Jesse Eisenberg finds his world turned upside down by the arrival of a confident and ambitious doppelganger.
• 
  Eden (2014)

  Review preview for Eden

  Hansen-Løve's momentary excursions into animation, split screen, and possibly re-writing of world history are the most effective parts.

  Paul is taking his first steps as a DJ in the world of French house music.
• 
  Education (2020)

  Review preview for Education

  McQueen builds his scathing criticism of the 1970s British school system in layers. Resembling the 'beautiful spiral constellation of Andromeda' that set the little protagonist dreaming, the film returns to the diverging realities and tropes.

  When 12-year-old Kingsley is transferred to a special-needs school, a group of West Indian women uncover an unofficial segregation policy.
• 
  El Planeta (2020)

  Review preview for El Planeta

  With jump cuts, fancy fades, and towels featuring cartoon owls and penguins, Amalia Ulman draws from her work as an artist and includes it seamlessly into the world of cinema.

  Amid the devastation of post-crisis Spain, mother and daughter bluff and grift to keep up the lifestyle they think they deserve, bonding over common tragedy and an impending eviction.
• 
  Ethel (2011)

  Review preview for Ethel

  Rory Kennedy's revealing and thoughtful documentary on her mother, Ethel, is a declaration of love, rarely seen on film.

  Documentary about the director's mother, Ethel Kennedy.
• 
  Elle (2016)

  Review preview for Elle

  Huppert's outstanding performance embraces with unswerving delicacy the controversial decisions she faces.

  A successful video game boss aims to track down her attacker after a home invasion.
• 
  Every Secret Thing (2014)

  Review preview for Every Secret Thing

  What makes this film so much more than a thriller is the very terrible human emotional territory it dares to venture in.

  Two young women with a dark past come under suspicion when a child goes missing.
• 
  Experimenter (2015)

  Review preview for Experimenter

  Almereyda jumps straight into the experiment which, over half a century later, is as fascinating and timely and important as ever.

  A drama about the life of Stanley Milgram and his famous experiments on obedience.
• 
  The Eye Of The Storm (2011)

  Review preview for The Eye Of The Storm

  The thematic links are remarkable, because they reveal and conceal simultaneously.

  A dying mother is determined to manipulate her family to the very end.
• 
  Farewell, My Queen (2012)

  Review preview for Farewell, My Queen

  Diane Kruger has only four days, all at the Petit Trianon, to leave her mark. And she does - a fervent and poignant, half-aware queen.

  The early days of the French Revolution as seen through the eyes of the servants at Versailles.
• 
  Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story (2012)

  Review preview for Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story

  A full life, lived by someone who is highly aware of his contradictions, his wit, charm and the sharpness of his pen, is an extraordinary triumph to watch.

  Documentary about the award-winning illustrator.
• 
  Fed Up (2014)

  Review preview for Fed Up

  Fed Up asks the questions the food industry "at the heart of the problem" does not want looked into.

  A documentary about food industry advertising in America.
• 
  Fashion Reimagined (2022)

  Review preview for Fashion Reimagined

  Amy and Chloe’s odyssey, filmed by Daniel Götz, is an adventure tale, which includes a visit to the cutest llamas in Peru.

  Follows fashion designer Amy Powney in her bid to create a collection that’s sustainable on every level.
• 
  The Father (2020)

  Review preview for The Father

  Zeller elegantly and scarily fuses dream logic with markers of past trauma.

  Anthony is 80 years old. He lives alone in London and refuses the caregivers that his daughter tries to impose upon him. Yet his need for help is becoming more pressing.
• 
  Fatherland (2026)

  Review preview for Fatherland

  The way Zischler and Hüller play their relationship is so wonderfully real and subtle and appropriately opaque for all us non-Mann family members, that it at times brought tears to my eyes.

  Drama focusing on Thomas Mann's post-war life, as he and his daughter embark on a road-trip across Germany.
• 
  The Favourite (2018)

  Review preview for The Favourite

  The dialogue is irreverent and sharp like a raven's claw.

  Two of Queen Anne's acolytes jockey for position.
• 
  Finsterworld (2013)

  Review preview for Finsterworld

  Finsterwalder gets remarkable performances out of her first-rate ensemble.

  Generations of the Sandberg family are revealed through loosely connected strands.
• 
  Fire At Sea (2015)

  Review preview for Fire At Sea

  The symbolism in Fire At Sea is so organic that it might dawn on you hours or days after seeing the film.

  A documentary looking at the inhabitants of Lampedusa and the desperate attempts made by refugees to reach the island.
• 
  The First Monday In May (2016)

  Review preview for The First Monday In May

  For those who are living with a 19th century idea of what art is, dismissing fashion as trivial and frivolous, Bolton counters that sometimes "fashion is easier to understand than language itself."

  An in-depth documentary about the creation of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's China: Through the Looking Glass exhibition and gala.
• 
  Flight (2012)

  Review preview for Flight

  Self-hatred and lies, stuck on the merry-go-round of never-ending temptations... give Flight its tension.

  An airline pilot who lives on the wild side becomes a national hero... until his blood tests come back.
• 
  A Flower In The Mouth (2022)

  Review preview for A Flower In The Mouth

  A flinty film that never caters to easy imagery.

  A film in two parts: a first act filmed as an observational documentary in the world's largest flower market, followed by a fictional second act about a man, afflicted by a terminal illness, encountering a stranger in a train station bar.
• 
  Foxtrot (2017)

  Review preview for Foxtrot

  Samuel Maoz steps into the rhythm of the foxtrot to give structure to the three separate chapters of his intense, reverberating film.

  A family's world is rocked when they are told about the death of their son.
• 
  France (2021)

  Review preview for France

  France is a supremely sad film, maybe the saddest Dumont has made in its interplay of the true and the fake.

  A TV journalist's career, home life, and psychological stability are shaken after a driving accident.
• 
  French Exit (2020)

  Review preview for French Exit

  Pfeiffer’s delivery is fantastically inscrutable.

  A Manhattan socialite whose inheritance is running out moves to a borrowed apartment in Paris with her son and cat.
• 
  The Friend (2024)

  Review preview for The Friend

  A very New York film.

  When an author dies, his best friend is left to deal with his literary legacy, his three former wives and a dog who isn't supposed to be allowed in her Manhattan apartment.
• 
  From Where They Stood (2021)

  Review preview for From Where They Stood

  From Where They Stood gives back the gaze to those who dared to record what they witnessed.

  Although they were risking their lives by doing so, prisoners in concentration and extermination camps took photographs and even managed to smuggle canisters of film beyond the camp gates.
• 
  Futura (2021)

  Review preview for Futura

  The reflections and insights are many.

  A portrait of Italy observed through the eyes of teenagers who talk about the places they live in and imagine themselves, torn between the opportunities that surround them, the dream of what they want to become, the fear of failing, the trials they hope to overcome.
• 
  The Forbidden Room (2015)

  Review preview for The Forbidden Room

  What is quite wonderful in all this flowing and "fade, fade, fade," fading is that the characters and their stories belong to no one specifically. They belong to a cinematic spirit world and maybe nobody even wanted them.

  A submarine crew, a feared pack of forest bandits, a famous surgeon, and a battalion of child soldiers all get more than they bargained for as they wend their way toward progressive ideas on life and love.
• 
  Frances Ha (2012)

  Review preview for Frances Ha

  You can enter through the objects, like an Eames chair or three pairs of Ray Bans, bought online. Or through the religious conflict inherent in a bacon bagel.

  Lightning-in-a-bottle, Noah Baumbach’s love poem to his star and co-writer Greta Gerwig recalls Godard’s early celebrations of Anna Karina, but, as a New York movie, it’s beautiful in a brand new way.
• 
  Frantz (2016)

  Review preview for Frantz

  Frequently and not at all randomly, the film switches to colour, posing a charming riddle that reflects states of happiness or other kinds of intensity.

  In the aftermath of WWI, a young German who grieves the death of her fiancé in France meets a mysterious French man who visits the fiancé's grave to lay flowers.
• 
  French Riviera (2014)

  Review preview for French Riviera

  Production designer Olivier Radot and costume designer Pascaline Chavanne revel in the colors and textures of Seventies casino ambiance.

  Nice, 1976, Following the failure of her marriage, Agnès Le Roux returns from Africa to her mother Renée, owner of the Casino Le Palais de la Méditerranée and falls in love with Renée's confidant, Maurice Agnelet.
• 
  From The Land Of The Moon (2016)

  Review preview for From The Land Of The Moon

  Cotillard's face oscillates mysteriously between the past depicted on the screen and a woman of the present who tries to understand.

  Twenty-year story of the loves of a passionate, free-spirited woman.
• 
  Funny Face (1957)

  Review preview for Funny Face

  Donen shows us how magic is made.

  A fashion photographer discovers a sales girl's ability as a model and makes her a star.
• 
  La Gioia (2025)

  Review preview for La Gioia

  This is a movie layered with meaning. A lipstick smudge turns into stigmata, a kiss can make you float and strangle you at the same time.

  Gioia is a high school teacher who has never known love beyond the suffocating grip of her parents, with whom she still lives. Her life shifts when she encounters Alessio, a student who uses his body as a means to get a few hundred euros to help his struggling mother.
• 
  Giraffe (2019)

  Review preview for Giraffe

  Remnants of bygone ways of life are beautifully shot in Giraffe.

  A Danish summer: A tunnel is being built to connect Denmark and Germany. An ethnologist comes to the island of Lolland to study its inhabitants and record their traditions and objects.
• 
  A Girl Missing (2019)

  Review preview for A Girl Missing

  Fukada, who trusts in our ability to figure things out eventually...sprinkles clues and riddles throughout his account of the human condition in the 21st century.

  Ichiko works as a private nurse for a family she has almost become a part of. But when the youngest member of the family disappears, the kidnapper's identity causes trouble.
• 
  Glory To The Heroes (2023)

  Review preview for Glory To The Heroes

  L'Ukraine Au Cœur drives the message home about the long-lasting damage done to all, including the youngest, who had forgotten what the sky looked like or how to play.

  A documentary about the war in Ukraine.
• 
  Goodbye First Love (2011)

  Review preview for Goodbye First Love

  Perceptions make this film such a pleasure to watch. Everything feels believable, real, and thought through.

  The emotional journey of a teenager is traced when her boyfriend leaves to travel the world.
• 
  The Gospel According To André (2017)

  Review preview for The Gospel According To André

  Flashes a light to illuminate different stages in the life of the man who invented himself with style and grace.

  Portrait of André Leon Talley.
• 
  Gunda (2020)

  Review preview for Gunda

  The language captured here speaks volumes. The animals’ faces, their reactions and movements, remind doubters of their sentient nature in every shot.

  Pigs, cows and chickens. Intimate portraits of living beings who wind up dead on a plate every day.
• 
  Ginger And Rosa (2012)

  Review preview for Ginger And Rosa

  Fanning's sincere face in happiness and disbelief is the essence of the film.

  Two teenage girls living in 1960s London are driven apart by a scandalous betrayal.
• 
  Gone Girl (2014)

  Review preview for Gone Girl

  Rosamund Pike is a revelation as the woman who can be everything you want her to be - and, especially, what you definitely don't want her to be.

  A man finds himself in the media spotlight after his wife disappears.
• 
  Graduation (2016)

  Review preview for Graduation

  Cristian Mungiu is such a master of vivisecting human interrelations that we might almost overlook how he sets the tone with animals, vegetables and minerals.

  Story of a small town doctor who is faced with a stark choice after his daughter is assaulted.
• 
  The Graduation (2016)

  Review preview for The Graduation

  The film shimmers and provokes where it is least expected.

  A documentary about selection procedures at cinema school La Fémis in Paris.
• 
  The Grandmaster (2013)

  Review preview for The Grandmaster

  Wong Kar Wai knows how to frame faces like no other, with embroidered collars, white straw fedoras, a rowdy monkey, cotton flowers and words escaping lips that are like song.

  The story of Ip Man, the martial arts master who trained Bruce Lee.
• 
  The Great Gatsby (2013)

  Review preview for The Great Gatsby

  The closer Luhrmann stays to the spirit of Fitzgerald and the more he trusts his cast, the better the result.

  A war veteran drawn into the glamorous life of his millionaire neighbour gradually discovers his secrets.
• 
  Hannah Arendt (2012)

  Review preview for Hannah Arendt

  A good decision von Trotta makes, is to use the actual footage of the trial and not have an actor play Adolf Eichmann.

  Dramatisation of the life of Hannah Arendt, who reported on the war crimes trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann for The New Yorker.
• 
  Haute Cuisine (2012)

  Review preview for Haute Cuisine

  Haute Cuisine is as earth shattering as a lip-smacking mushroom - you will want to have a good dinner afterwards.

  Drama based on the real-life story of the personal chef to former French president François Mitterand.
• 
  Hail, Caesar! (2016)

  Review preview for Hail, Caesar!

  The Coens' obvious fun in concocting scenes of mid-century paranoia is infectious.

  Capitol Pictures is about to complete its biggest film of the year, but its star has been kidnapped. Can the studio fixer solve the problem in time?