Joey Magidson
There’s an efficiency and economy of storytelling that Paweł Pawlikowski possesses which few of his contemporaries do. For example, this is his sixth feature and he’s yet to make a film that’s 90 minutes long. His longest movie to date is 88 minutes, which says something about how he can capture his story, as well as the emotions of his characters, with no extra filling. At 82 minutes, Fatherland is a flick that gets in, gets out, and still manages to leave an impression. Even if I was more affected and impressed by his prior film, Cold War, this is still a small wonder to behold. If we had more storytellers like Pawlikowski, the cinematic world would be a better place. Playing at the 2026 SCAD Savannah Film Festival, it’s a movie that celebrates efficiency, as well as the work of its leading lady.
Fatherland is led by another strong turn by Sandra Hüller, who quickly is becoming amongst the most reliably good actresses in the business.
It’s the summer of 1949, with the Cold War at its tense heights. Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann (Hans Zischler) has been in exile in the United States for sixteen years, but he’s back in Germany. Specifically, he’s in a black Buick with his daughter Erika (Hüller), an actress, writer, and rally car driver. Thomas has returned to celebrate the 200th birthday of Goethe, his revered literary predecessor, Of course, the fractures he sees in his homeland are not so different from the ones within his own family.
Beginning in Frankfurt, which is American dominated, and moving east to Soviet controlled Weimar, they stop along the way at various engagements. In Frankfurt, it’s a hotel where Thomas speaking, one that features a CIA operative (David Menkin) watching over them, as well as an AP reporter (Anna Madeley) that Erika has some sort of personal history with, plus her Nazi sympathizer ex husband Gustaf Gründgens (Joachim Meyerhoff). Later, there’s the buffoonish Soviet Colonel Tulpanov (Daniel Wagner). Obviously, there’s the matter of the Mann family as well, which this imagined road trip looks at as sort of a therapy session as well, as the ruins of Germany speak volumes about their relationship.
Sandra Hüller leads the way with another strong turn. Her chemistry with both Hans Zischler (good in a role that easily could have been too much or not enough), as well as with Anna Madeley (I could have watched a whole movie of them bantering), showcases the way she can handle complex characters. Everyone in the movie is good, to be sure, with Madeley and Zischler impressing, but Hüller is great. In addition to David Menkin, Joachim Meyerhoff, and Daniel Wagner, supporting players here also include August Diehl and Devid Striesow, as well as a cameo from Cold War star Joanna Kulig.
Co-writer/director Paweł Pawlikowski is seemingly incapable of having his work contain dead space. Once again working in black and white, Pawlikowski directs with precision, never feeling rushed yet always headed somewhere with his film. Co-writing with Henk Handloegten, they speculate on this relationship and imagined trip, but it never feels like overt fiction. A lot of that is due to Pawlikowski’s visuals being so stark and the world feeling so well realized, once again captured impeccably by cinematographer Łukasz Żal. In under 90 minutes, he accomplishes what others might struggle to do in upwards of two hours.
Fatherland might be a touch dry for some, and I wouldn’t be able to fully argue the point, but Paweł Pawlikowski has such a specific voice, and Sandra Hüller is so good here, it’s hard to have too many strong criticisms. Continuing its fest run by playing the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, this movie is destined to find its fans, much like Pawlikowski’s prior outings have.
SCORE: ★★★
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