Transit — U.S. Trailer

added: Thu, Jan 10th '19

The official U.S. trailer has been released for "Transit," the latest from German auteur Christian Petzold, whose credits include the award-winning Hitchcockian thriller "Phoenix" and the critically acclaimed mystery drama "Barbara."

Merging the past with the present, "Transit" is a quasi-contemporary adaptation of Anna Segher's 1942 novel of the same name about a German refugee who, while trying to escape the sudden invasion of fascism, steals the transit papers of a dead novelist and assumes his identity in order to flee to France.

What's interesting about this film is that Petzold made the bold decision to recreate the book's WWII story, yet told it in a contemporary setting with contemporary costumes.

German actor Franz Rogowski (Victoria, Happy End) stars in the film as a refugee named Georg who flees to occupied France where he meets and falls for a fellow refugee woman, Marie (played by Paula Beer, star of "Frantz"). The thing is, Marie doesn't know that Georg has stolen her dead husband's identity, though they are both waiting for their visas to be approved.

"Transit" will open theatrically in New York on March 1st and then open in Los Angeles on March 8th, with other cities to follow.

synopsis:
As fascism spreads, German refugee Georg (Franz Rogowski) flees to Marseille and assumes the identity of the dead writer whose transit papers he is carrying. Living among refugees from around the world, Georg falls for Marie (Paula Beer), a mysterious woman searching for her husband -- the man whose identity Georg has stolen.

Adapted from Anna Segher's 1942 novel, TRANSIT transposes the original story to the present, blurring periods to create a timeless exploration of the plight of displaced people.

directed by Christian Petzold

starring Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer

release date March 1, 2019 (in NY); March 8, 2019 (in LA; other cities to follow)