Never Look Away

The film tells the story of Kurt Barnert (Tom Schilling), a German artist who escapes East Germany and lives in West Germany, but is tormented by his childhood under the Nazis and the GDR regime. As a child, Kurt visits an exhibit of Degenerate Art in Dresden with his aunt Elisabeth, where he becomes mesmerized by a modernist sculpture. Years later, as an adult, Kurt studies painting at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, where he falls in love with a young fashion design student named Ellie (Paula Beer), the daughter of Professor Carl Seeband, a high-ranking member of the SS medical corps who is determined to sabotage their relationship.