A man attempting to escape occupied France falls in love with the wife of a dead author whose identity he has assumed.A man attempting to escape occupied France falls in love with the wife of a dead author whose identity he has assumed.A man attempting to escape occupied France falls in love with the wife of a dead author whose identity he has assumed.
- Awards
- 9 wins & 26 nominations
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to Christian Petzold, this movie is the last chapter of his trilogy called "Love in Times of Oppressive Systems". The trilogy also includes Barbara (2012) and Phoenix (2014).
- Quotes
Georg: A man had died. He was to register in hell. He waited in front of a large door. He waited a day, two. He waited weeks. Months. Then years. Finally a man walked past him. The man waiting addressed him: Perhaps you can help me, I'm supposed to register in hell. The other man looks him up and down, says: But sir, this here is hell.
- ConnectionsFollows Barbara (2012)
- SoundtracksKarneval der Tiere - Der Kuckuck
Composed by Camille Saint-Saëns
Performed by Franz Rogowski (uncredited)
(c) copyright control
Recorded by Stefan Will
Featured review
Time Shift Is The Key
Transit is based on a 1944 novel by Anna Seghers, in turn based on her experiences as a German Jewish Communist political refugee in Marseilles trying to get out of Vichy France to Mexico. The protagonist is a German illegally in France, who travels from Paris to Marseilles, through chance assumes the identity of a dead German leftist writer who has an exit visa to Mexico, and finds himself involved with both the writer's estranged wife and the wife and son of a fellow German illegal.
What made the movie work for me is that it is not a routine World War II vintage costume drama. Director-Writer Christian Petzold has chosen to set the entire story in present day France. There are no Nazis, no swastikas, and no political explanations. There are only the omnipresent French police checking papers in the street, raiding hotels and apartments, and rounding up illegal aliens for deportation to an unnamed destination, assisted by good French citizens either venal or patriotic, and the desperate struggle of the refugees to procure legitimate identity and travel documents in the face of bureaucratic indifference or hostility. It all feels like it could be happening six months from now, there or, for that matter, here. The contemporary setting greatly increases the tension by taking away historical cues -- you have no idea how it is going to come out or whether the hero will make his getaway to Mexico.
What made the movie work for me is that it is not a routine World War II vintage costume drama. Director-Writer Christian Petzold has chosen to set the entire story in present day France. There are no Nazis, no swastikas, and no political explanations. There are only the omnipresent French police checking papers in the street, raiding hotels and apartments, and rounding up illegal aliens for deportation to an unnamed destination, assisted by good French citizens either venal or patriotic, and the desperate struggle of the refugees to procure legitimate identity and travel documents in the face of bureaucratic indifference or hostility. It all feels like it could be happening six months from now, there or, for that matter, here. The contemporary setting greatly increases the tension by taking away historical cues -- you have no idea how it is going to come out or whether the hero will make his getaway to Mexico.
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- JackCerf
- Mar 18, 2019
- How long is Transit?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Транзит
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $815,290
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $31,931
- Mar 3, 2019
- Gross worldwide
- $1,012,747
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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