Review: Afire

Directed by: Christian Petzold

Written by: Christian Petzold

Starring: Thomas Schubert, Paula Beer, Langston Uibel, Enno Trebs

Rating: [3.5/5]

No other profession has probably built the reputation for being the most pouty and disgruntled while working on their material than writers. They have to pour all of their heart and soul to the work they do, only for others to come around and rip it to shreds for their own good. Being around one during the height of their insecurity can make for an unbearable experience, and what we see in Afire probably takes the cake in authors one would not like to hang around more than one has to. 

Heading to a summer home to take time to finish their individual projects, Leon (Thomas Schubert) and Felix (Langston Uibel) make their way there by foot after their car breaks down, where they find another unexpected inhabitant in Nadja (Paula Beer). Quickly Leon, the writer, does not care much for Nadja and the disruption she has brought to this retreat that he and Felix had planned, which only gets worsened by the forest fires happening in the West bringing further turmoil. 

One would be hard-pressed to find a more insufferable protagonist to be around than Leon. Certainly not a defect in the character himself because he proves fascinating to analyze, but as a person, being around him for too long will make one go insane. From his general miserable demeanor about writing his book, he also begins to fall into insufferable territory where it becomes obvious to everyone around him that no one wants to be near him during his pouting period. Further distilling the difference between him and the other characters displays what sets them apart and how they view their particular work. Felix loves his photography, but he allows life to come over him as he has some fun and exhibits some general happiness. Nadja does the same in how she has sexual encounters with others and spends her time at this summer home working on the beach serving ice cream. Leon approaches his work in such a sacrosanct manner as a writer, where his self-seriousness does not allow him to enjoy a simple dinner with others because he obsesses so much about getting his manuscript finished. 

On one hand, I can understand that he takes his work very seriously because of how much he pours himself into it, but he definitely does not detract from the stereotypes of writers being quite insufferable either. This comes in addition to the reality that his sourness towards others does not wholly originate from his desire to get his manuscript done, but also his perception of superiority he has over others because he works as a writer. This appears at its most obvious when he interacts with Nadja who he deems inferior to her because of her working at an ice cream stand, which gets flipped on him very quickly. 

Most of this review focuses on Leon as a character because he remains wholly intriguing in the way he operates where his anger towards others gets blinded by this frustration of a lack of recognition and sexual gratification that opens up even more wormholes about how he interacts with the other characters in the story, but this looming forest fire remains throughout the film in the background. Ever-present through conversation and then making itself quite known later in the narrative, this element continues to absorb the surrounding area further suffocating the air it reaches, which certainly lines up with what Leon represents in the feature as well. Christian Petzold certainly knew what he was doing with this little metaphor here, which only further brings a full circle to how these characters and their themes intertwine together. 

With Afire, Christian Petzold delivers another strong outing. He gets the most out of Thomas Schubert, who does an excellent job in making us hate Leon in his ways of being a brat throughout the entirety of the feature. This occurs concurrently with yet another collaboration Petzold has with Paula Beer, who knocks it out of the park again with her performance as Nadja. She always excels in Petzold films and this film is absolutely no different in the way she brings forth the general zeal of Nadja to this story, serving as the ultimate foil to Leon and his general moodiness. A strong collaboration throughout, making for an undeniably Petzold film.