105 mins
8.4 / 10 (10946)
17

Synopsis

In 1980s East Germany, Barbara is a Berlin doctor banished to a country medical clinic for applying for an exit visa. Deeply unhappy with her reassignment and fearful of her co-workers as possible Stasi informants, Barbara stays aloof, especially from the good natured clinic head, Andre.

MUBI's take

Christian Petzold and Nina Hoss are two of contemporary German cinema’s best talents, and before Phoenix they made Barbara: a character study driven by Hoss’s striking, subtle performance. A tense East Berlin-set political thriller that won Petzold the Berlinale’s Silver Bear for Best Director.