Review of Yella

Yella got some hype at the 2008 Berlinale, but I've never found the time since then to watch it. I had seen Petzolds "The State I Am In" and liked it so my expectations were maybe set a little to high for yella.
It's the story of a woman who comes back to her home town only to leave again for a new job. On arrival she is stalked by her (ex?)husband, who tries to kill both of them by steering off a bridge the next day but fails. She manages to still catch the train to the city of her new job, but finds the company being closed down when she gets there. In her hotel a businessman offers her a job as an assistant. The story meanders along in business meetings and hotel rooms, with occasional mystery from the stalking husband.

I found this hard to watch because the language is very contrived. It's a general problem i have with german actors and script writers, but here it particularly stands out due to the slow pace of the dialogues. The story is minimalistic and not really captivating in terms of plot development. It's more of a character study of the heroine and as such has a few interesting moments, e.g. when yella seems to have hallucinations during a business meeting. Other than that I found it too boring to watch the last 20 minutes of it.