Aimée & Jaguar

Berlin, 1943. As bombs fall, the last Jews are tracked down. Felice (Schrader) helps her newspaper boss with another anti-Semitic editorial. He's unaware that she's a Jew and a lesbian. Bravado might be the best protection, but Felice and a group of Jewish girlfriends live on their nerves. This partly explains why she is drawn to Lilly (Köhler), the wife of a Nazi officer. Calling each other by pet names, Aimée and Jaguar, they strive to keep the outside world at bay. The precarious existence of Felice and her pals provides background tension, but the film leaves niggling questions unanswered. There's an imbalance in the casting, too, since the bird-like Schrader carries far more charisma than Köhler's sturdy Aryan housewife. The idea of passion defying the Nazis gives the film (based on a true story) its muted emotional charge, but, all in all, it isn't sharp enough to allow us to relive a fascinating, dangerous relationship through the lovers' eyes.