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Documentary

Nelly & Nadine

- One of the greatest love stories never told.

Nelly and Nadine meet in Ravensbrück concentration camp. They spend the rest of their lives together. Decades later, Nelly’s granddaughter goes in search of clues. A poignant film about a love story and the need for individual and collective remembrance.

Release Date : 2024-11-27

Language :EnglishSpanishFrenchSwedish

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Auto Images ABAssociate DirectorsUpNorth FilmSVTVRTRTBFFilm i SkåneCanvas

Production Country : BelgiumNorwaySweden

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Nadine Hwang

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Nadine Hwang

Gender : Male

Nelly Mousset-Vos

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Nelly Mousset-Vos

Gender : Male

Sylvie Bianchi

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Sylvie Bianchi

Gender : Male

Christian

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Christian

Gender : Male

Joan Schenkar

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Joan Schenkar

Gender : Male

Anne Bianchi

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Anne Bianchi

Gender : Male

José Rafael Lovera

Character Name : Self

Original Name : José Rafael Lovera

Gender : Male

Maria Alexandra Lovera

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Maria Alexandra Lovera

Gender : Male

Irene Krausz-Fainman

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Irene Krausz-Fainman

Gender : Male

Ronit Nadine Frenkel

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Ronit Nadine Frenkel

Gender : Male

Natalie Clifford Barney

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Natalie Clifford Barney

Gender : Female

Jack

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Jack

Gender : Male

Raymond

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Raymond

Gender : Male

Trijntje de Haan- Zwagerman

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Trijntje de Haan- Zwagerman

Gender : Male

Lola Sylman

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Lola Sylman

Gender : Male

Maria Zurowska Kurowska

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Maria Zurowska Kurowska

Gender : Male

Elsie Ragusin

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Elsie Ragusin

Gender : Male

Mary O'Shaughnessy

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Mary O'Shaughnessy

Gender : Male

Bernhard Kempler

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Bernhard Kempler

Gender : Male

Anita Lobel

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Anita Lobel

Gender : Male

Hinda Jakubowicz

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Hinda Jakubowicz

Gender : Male

Fredzia Marmur

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Fredzia Marmur

Gender : Male

Felicja Sonabend

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Felicja Sonabend

Gender : Male

Sara Nowak

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Sara Nowak

Gender : Male

Helen Fox

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Helen Fox

Gender : Male

Mary Lindell

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Mary Lindell

Gender : Male

Masza Stern

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Masza Stern

Gender : Male

Lolka Calel

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Lolka Calel

Gender : Male

Mala Landsberg

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Mala Landsberg

Gender : Male

Judith Popinski

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Judith Popinski

Gender : Male

Rosetta Ahmed

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Rosetta Ahmed

Gender : Male

Marguerite Lartigau

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Marguerite Lartigau

Gender : Male

Eleonora Fryc

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Eleonora Fryc

Gender : Male

Edith Schimmel

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Edith Schimmel

Gender : Male

Magdalein Schimmel

Character Name : Self (archive footage; uncredited)

Original Name : Magdalein Schimmel

Gender : Male

Anne Coesens

Character Name : Voice of Nelly

Original Name : Anne Coesens

Gender : Female

Bwanga Pilipili

Character Name : Voice of Nadine

Original Name : Bwanga Pilipili

Gender : Female

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2024-08-19

At the very start of this documentary, we are shown a photograph of a woman staring into the camera. It's fairly unlikely she knew it was pointing at the group in which she was standing, but it was taken as the Ravensbrück concentration camp was being liberated by the Swiss Red Cross in 1945. She is quickly identified as Nadine Hwang and now director Magnus Gertten tries to piece together her story. For that, he is fortunate. She kept a series of diaries and when it falls to her grand-daughter to finally read them - with quite a degree of emotion-laden trepidation - we discover that before the war she was in a loving relationship with Nelly Mousset Vos. With the aid of photographs and the sometimes quite harrowing narration from her text, we trace the lives of these two women both before and after the horrors of the Nazi invasion. Not wishing, in any way, to trivialise this - but as a documentary it's all a bit lightweight. The story itself is one that's truly ghastly, empowering, emotional and sometimes quite shocking, but factually there is just way too much missing, and what we do have to go on and/or know is squeezed just once too often. It might actually have made for a better source as a drama, allowing some of the understandable gaps to be filled in, albeit speculatively, and leaving less scope for us to have to make our own guesses about their difficulties not just with the SS but with a society as yet unfamiliar with their candid and loving lesbianism. Much of the heavy lifting comes from the soundtrack - it turns out Nelly was quite a good singer, too - but somehow it's really only the shell of a poignant story that falls disappointingly short. It is worth watching, and the plentiful photographs and some archive footage add a little richness, but it doesn't quite deliver.