Review | Undine movie review: romantic myth of mermaid relocated to contemporary Berlin in Christian Petzold’s allegorical drama
- Undine tells the story of a woman who must kill her cheating boyfriend and return to the water according to an ancient myth
- The film is a love letter to Berlin, with great performances, but it could have dived deeper into the mythology
3.5/5 stars
With a live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid on the horizon, and the sizeable splash created by DC’s Aquaman , it would appear that water nymphs have resurfaced in mainstream cinema. Undine, from acclaimed German director Christian Petzold, takes its name from precisely this kind of elemental spirit, who, legend has it, has existed alongside us in secret since the dawn of time.
Undine (Beer) works for Berlin’s Heritage and Urban Development department, as a lecturer and advocate for the city’s rich, diverse history. When she learns that her boyfriend, Johannes (Jacob Matschenz), is leaving her for another woman, she tells him in a calm, controlled manner that she must now kill him.
Johannes laughs off this seemingly baseless threat, but Undine is deadly serious. Could it be that she is connected by more than merely her name to the ancient myth, which decrees that spurned water nymphs must murder their ex-lovers and return to the water?