Laura (Paula Beer), a very unhappy looking Laura, opens the film peering over the edge of a bridge staring at the water below. There is no pedestrian walkway on this bridge so she is where she shouldn’t be and as cars speed by with horns blaring my thought is that girl is ready to jump to her death.
No jump and she returns to her flat to meet boyfriend Jakob (Phillip Froissant) to drive to a marina in the countryside outside Berlin for a cruise with a music producer and his girlfriend. When they arrive a very morose and haggard looking Laura says she does not wish to go on this cruise and instead return home annoying Jakob who has an opportunity for a relationship with this successful music producer. On the angry return trip to Berlin their car crashes in the countryside killing Jakob and barely affecting Laura.
A nearby resident, Betty (Barbara Auer) runs to the accident site where Jakob lies lifeless head oozing blood and assists Laura to walk to her nearby home. The police and medical staff arrive and Laura’s request to stay with Betty and rest is quickly, perhaps too quickly accepted by Betty.
From this point on there are many “Why’s” emerging in the viewer’s mind.
Why is Laura so miserable?
Why is Betty so quick to take in Laura? And when Laura asks if she can stay with Betty why does Betty have that joyous look on her face when she replies, “Of course”?
Why is Betty on the side of the road watching Laura drive to and back from the marina? Is Betty waiting for someone? Is Betty an omen?
Who is this Yelena that Betty mentions frequently?
Why do passerby’s gawk at Betty’s house?
Why are Betty’s son (Max) and husband (Richard) not living in the family home with Betty?
Why does Betty invite Max and Richard to dinner shortly after Laura’s arrival so they may celebrate?
As the film progresses the answers to these questions reveal themselves and the misery of Richard, Max and Betty becomes clearly understood. Why Laura is so miserable is never fully explained other than an unhappy relationship with boyfriend Jakob.
In a strange way one might conclude that these miseries are staring at each other as if looking in a mirror except the reflection is not of one’s own misery but that of others somehow intersected through fate or chance.
A pyscho-mystery-thriller if you wish which at one-point could have veered chillingly in the direction of a horror film.
It is clear how Betty, Richard and Max are healed through their interaction with Laura. Laura’s smile at the end of the film is indicative of healing but what is she healing from? And why the “3” in the film’s title?
One can’t escape what I might call the warmth of the cinematography that relaxes and almost lulls the senses of the viewer to somehow blunt the horribleness of it all. What messages there are in the film are effortlessly and nonthreateningly delivered.
I will not blame you if you shout out, “WHAT” at the last scene. Does director Christian Petzold have you exactly where the wants you as he did with “Undine” and “Roter Himmel” both of which starred Paula Beer?
You can watch the trailer here https://vimeo.com/1157324527?fl=pl&fe=vl
Opens throughout Canada 20March2026.
RKS 2026 EURO Film Rating 90/100.
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