Yella (2008)
71%RT Audience Score: 54%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Chilly and haunting, Yella’s atmosphere gets under the skin
Yella is like a German version of Erin Brockovich, but with a twist. It’s a psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. The film is a perfect balance of corporate intrigue and metaphysical mystery, and the performance of Nina Hoss in the title role is outstanding. If you’re looking for a movie that will make you think and keep you guessing until the very end, Yella is definitely worth a watch.
Production Company(ies)
Paramount Pictures, Skydance Media, Jerry Bruckheimer Films,
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2008
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):German
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Mar 31, 2009
Genre(s)
Drama/Romance
Keyword(s)
Yella, Drama, Romance, 1h 29m, Nina Hoss, Devid Striesow, Hinnerk Schönemann, Burghart Klaußner, Barbara Auer, Christian Redl, directed by Christian Petzold, written by Simone Bär and Christian Petzold, produced by Florian Koerner von Gustorf, German language, near-death experience, final moments, atmosphere, chilling, haunting, critic reviews, Tomatometer, audience score, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Chris Darke, Hank Sartin, Kenneth Turan, Walter V Addiego, J R Jones, Roger Ebert, Brian Eggert, Dennis Harvey, David Nusair, Kaleem Aftab, Dennis Schwartz, Christopher Long, MPAA rating, thriller, suspense, metaphysical mystery, German reunification, venture capitalist, business deal, post-reunification, contemporary German, rental, purchase, streaming
Worldwide gross: $999,588
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,376,894
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,517
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 150,152
US/Canada gross: $30,647
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $42,215
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,766
US/Canada opening weekend: $7,767
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $10,699
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,686
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Devid Striesow – Philipp
Hinnerk Schönemann – Ben
Burghart Klaußner – Dr. Gunthen
Barbara Auer – Barbara Gunthen
Christian Redl – Yellas Vater
Director(s)
Christian Petzold
Writer(s)
Simone Bär, Christian Petzold
Producer(s)
Florian Koerner von Gustorf
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (56) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (11)
Petzold, a leading light of the current generation of young German filmmakers, succeeds in making the modern world strange again.
November 14, 2013
Chris Darke
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
November 18, 2011 | Rating: 3/5
Hank Sartin
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
This unusual film has all the appearance of simply being a well-done drama, but there is considerably more on writer-director Christian Petzold’s mind.
September 19, 2008 | Rating: 4/5
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
This crisply made thriller begins as a harrowing tale of a young German woman stalked by her deranged ex-husband, but quickly turns into an investigation of the murkier depths of capitalism.
September 5, 2008 | Rating: 3/4
Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Strikes a perfect balance between corporate intrigue and metaphysical mystery; his 2007 drama is filled with suspense but ends in delicious ambiguity.
August 1, 2008
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Yella is a reserved young woman with unrevealed depths of intelligence, larceny and passion. Their gradual revelation makes this more than an ordinary thriller, in great part because of the performance of Nina Hoss in the title role.
August 1, 2008 | Rating: 3.5/4
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
TOP CRITIC
Christian Petzold’s Yella is an unassuming story with a powerful metaphor about the complexities of German reunification
February 18, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
2007’s cool psychological suspense piece Yella, with Hoss as a woman who can’t quite escape her troubled past, was one of the first films that made the international reputations of both its star and her frequent director Christoph Petzold.
May 27, 2021
Dennis Harvey
48 Hills
Yella slowly-but-surely begins to lose its already-tenuous grip on the viewer…
February 25, 2020 | Rating: 2/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
Watching the transformation of Yella is as mesmerising as the steely transformation at the heart of Steven Soderbergh’s largely comparable Erin Brockovich.
November 3, 2018 | Rating: 3/5
Kaleem Aftab
The List
An edgy, intellectual and enigmatic dream-like metaphysical thriller about living in post-reunification contemporary German as a venture capitalist.
April 24, 2012 | Rating: A-
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Yella is a strange beast: a twisty, slightly surreal mystery wrapped around the tedious art of the business deal.
July 28, 2009 | Rating: 7/10
Christopher Long
Movie Metropolis…
Plot
After a near-death experience, Yella relives someone else’s final moments and must navigate the murky depths of capitalism and corporate intrigue in this chilling and haunting drama.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Nothing to add here about Yella.
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