“German auteur Christian Petzold’s latest film, Transit, takes the story of the eponymous Anna Seghers novel written and set in 1942 zone libre Marseille but telling it against the backdrop of the city’s contemporary counterpart. It’s an intellectual gamble that underlines how little has changed for refugees in the last 75 years.
“The pic’s main character is Georg (Franz Rogowski), a German refugee who has come into the possession of the papers of a novelist, Weidel, who killed himself in a French hotel. Like the dead man, Georg is fleeing from the German troops who have already invaded France but haven’t moved past Lyon yet. In Marseille, the Mediterranean port city, everyone tries to get their paperwork and transit visas in order so they can leave on the next ship to the New World.
“Cinematographer Hans Fromm, production designer K.D. Gruber, both Petzold regulars, and costume designer Katharina Ost together create a world that is contemporary but with an edge of timeless.” - The Hollywood Reporter