Beat sheet over Phoenix

Phoenix Beat Sheet

Opening Image:

The movie starts with showing a woman, who we later come to know as Lene Winter, driving a car. She is stopped at a road block and a male officer comes up and asks where she's coming from and then to see her passport. It is then that we see that she is not alone in the car. Sitting next to her is another person with bloody bandages wrapped around their face. The officer asks to see the person's face. Lene then gets out of the car and tells the man she has come from the camps and asks him to leave her be. The officer doesn't let up until the woman unwraps her face which the audience does not see. He steps back from the car seeming a little unsettled and tells the rest of the officers to let them pass. Then the title slide is shown.

Theme stated:

The main theme is never clearly stated but one is the darkness to light or vice versa. This theme is first hinted at the title screen when the headlights of Lene's car fills the screen. Another theme is rising from the ashes which have to do with the title of the movie itself. The director, Petzold, makes amazing choices when placing characters in certain places. A great example of this is when Johnny tells Nelly the plan for meeting up with the rest of their family close to the end. They plan to meet at a train station similar to the ones that took Nelly and others off to concentration camps. The train station represents looking back on the past but still moving forward which is exactly what the group is doing in this scene.

The Set-Up:

The set-up is when Lene and Nelly arrive at their destination, a hospital. While there the audience learns why Nelly has the bandages wrapped around her face. When in the concentration camps she was shot in the face. The doctor tells Nelly that this is a good thing and that she can be anyone she wants to be. Nelly replies with saying "I want to look exactly like I used to." After she if fully healed Lene and Nelly go back to Berlin and stay in Lene's apartment for a while. While there Lene tells Nelly that Johnny, her husband, was the traitor that told the Nazi's where she was hiding. Nelly doesn't believe her and sets off at night to go find him.

Catalyst:

When out one night Nelly finds a nightclub named Phoenix. She enters and that is where she finds her husband Johnny. She calls out to him, but he looks straight through her barely seeing her, and then dismisses it. Nelly runs out of the nightclub crying and heads back to the apartment. Later she goes back, but this time during the day. She asks for Johnny but everyone in the nightclub has no idea who that is. She finally finds him and tries to talk to him but he still has no idea who she is. When she is leaving he calls her over to where he is sitting on the steps behind next to the nightclub. He asks her a few questions and then grabs her arm leading her through the streets. He tells her that they can make a lot of money because she looks a lot like his wife who has supposedly died with the rest of her family. They don't stop until they reach his very small apartment. He tells her the plan to get the money which is to make her look as much like his "dead" wife as possible to collect the money. He then leaves. 

Debate:

At this point in the movie Petzold decided to flash between Nelly talking to Lene and telling her what happened with Johnny from the point he left her in his apartment to now. while Nelly is telling her story and explaining everything to Lene she, Nelly's, face is concealed by the darkness in the room. It is now that the debate on whether to go on with the plan or to stop is presented to Nelly. Lene, of course, wants her to leave with her and forget him. Nelly on the other hand still loves Johnny and wants to stay. 

Break into II:

It is also at this part where act II starts, Petzold has meshed together the debate and the beginning of act II. The second act starts off with Nelly's transformation into her old self again with the help of her husband. Through this act, the audience gets more insight to Johnny and what led to him giving up his wife to the Nazis. 

B Story:

The B story isn't as clear as other movies. Although it can be argued that the B story is Nelly trying to make Johnny believe that she really is his "dead" wife. In this case, the B story is Nelly's transformation into her old self and getting the money. This is the B story because it was introduced a little while into the movie and was not the main goal for Nelly at the beginning, getting back to her husband was.

Fun and Games:

Even though this movie is a little dark and doesn't seem to have much fun or light moments in it the 'fun' in fun and games is when the audience gets to see the journey of Johnny making Nelly his wife again.

Midpoint:

The midpoint is at the end of Nelly's story to Lene. Johnny has giving Nelly a picture of a model that his wife used to use as a reference to do her makeup and hair and then leaves her to try it out. When he gets back he stops for a moment looking at Nelly in the dress he picked out, hair dyed back to dark brown, and makeup like the model. He's frozen there looking at her for a while looking over her. His face shows recognition but then confusion, and lastly dismissal. He tells her the hair and makeup is all wrong. Later they are showed walking towards a place they used to go before the war, a garden with a tree and bench connected to it. Nelly asks if they, Johnny and his wife, used to go there a lot. He tells her to stop snooping through his pictures. Two men then come around the corner thinking fast Johnny takes Nelly and kisses her, to conceal her identity. After the men leave Nelly, unsurprisingly, is eleated and has hope everything will eventually work out between them.

Bad Guy Closes In:

There are no real bad guys in this movie, but there is a part in Phoenix where doubts come into Nelly's mind. This starts while at her first big "unveiling". Nelly is to go to the place where she was taken and talk to the people who last saw her before she went to the concentration camps. While there a woman confirms what Lene was trying to tell Nelly all along, that Johnny turned her in to the Nazis in order to stay alive.  

All Is Lost:

Nelly returns to Lene's apartment after a few weeks after. When she gets back Lene's housekeeper informs her that Lene had killed herself and left her a note. The note is telling Nelly why she killed herself and then information about Johnny. Lene tells her that he divorced Nelly right before she was arrested. Her letter is being read while the couple is riding Johnny's bike to the train station where they are to meet tomorrow. 

Dark Night of the Soul:

The hesitating moment for out main character is the night before Nelly meets with her family. Johnny tells her that the prisoners in Auschwitz had numbers tattooed on their arms. His solution to this is that she cut it out of her arm. Nelly yells at him to get out and then goes to the bathroom. She takes out the gun Lene gave her at the beginning and stares at it for a while and the sets it aside. Then she takes the document Lene gave to her that tells her Johnny divorced her the day before she was taken and reads it over and over again.

Finale:

The finale is the big train station meeting the next day. Everything goes according to Johnny's plan up until they get to their destination. Nelly decides she wants to sing, and Johnny accompanying her on the piano. She sings her song all the while Johnny is finally realizing who she really is. Her tattoo from Auschwitz is also revealed. When Johnny believes that Nelly really is his wife he stops and stares at her until she finishes her song. When done with her song Nelly stands there and then walks out leaving Johnny and her family behind.