Review | Never Look Away film review: The Lives of Others director returns to form with Gerhard Richter-inspired drama
- This story of the life of a German artist spans 30 years from his childhood in the 1930s
- Oscar-winning director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is supported by great casting; Sebastian Koch shines as a former Nazi eugenicist
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4/5 stars
In 2006, the German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck made his name on the international stage with his Oscar-winning feature debut The Lives of Others, an absorbing tale of the Stasi secret police. Four years later, he suffered an almighty sophomore slump with The Tourist, a trashy romantic thriller with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.
Now he’s back with Never Look Away, a film thankfully much closer to his debut and something of a return to form. A three-hour drama that spans 30 years of 20th century German history, it’s loosely inspired by events in the life of artist Gerhard Richter, who made some shocking discoveries – via a biographer – about his family history.
What von Donnersmarck has crafted is a portrait of an artist as a young man, as Kurt Barnett (played as an adult by Tom Schilling) is seen from his 1930s boyhood, via his training at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, to his career zenith. The emotional grist of the piece comes as Kurt falls for Ellie (Paula Beer) after the second world war.
It becomes clear to us early on that her father, prominent gynaecologist Carl Seeband (Sebastian Koch), is a former Nazi eugenicist, now protected by a Red Army officer. What’s more, it was Seeband who signed off on the mental instability of Kurt’s beloved aunt Elisabeth (Saskia Rosendahl), who first encouraged her nephew’s artistic instincts.
Elisabeth is sterilised and soon murdered; but while the audience is aware of Seeband’s involvement, Kurt is not. Will he find out? Will Seeband destroy his daughter’s relationship with this young artist, as he seemingly seems intent on doing? These questions hang over the film, but von Donnersmarck is not a director who offers up obvious narrative resolutions.
With the film deservedly nominated for two Oscars this year – best foreign language film and best cinematography for Caleb Deschanel, whose past work includes The Passion of the Christ – von Donnersmarck appears to be most interested in the primal power of art. It’s not always subtle: one almost laughable scene sees Seeband confronted with his crimes, his guilt writ large on canvas.
Fortunately, von Donnersmarck has cast well with Koch, his former star from The Lives of Others, who digs deep to find empathy in even the most repugnant of characters. What results is a film where politics, history, art and love collide into an almost operatic crescendo. Like the title suggests, you won’t be able to look away.
