Ravensbrück concentration camp inmate Nelly sings an aria from "Madame Butterfly," attracting the attention, and a hug and kisses, from fellow political prisoner Nadine. From that day on, their bond helps to keep them alive.

This beautiful-to-watch, thought-provoking documentary unfolds impressionistically, as we piece together a love story through the perspective of Nelly's granddaughter, a farmer's wife who inherited yellowed diary pages, faded photos, and strips of 8mm film.

"How they managed to have a relationship like that at someplace as terrifying as a concentration camp, I just don't know," Anne muses. "The chances that both of them would survive were incredibly slim."

Although the movie doesn't explain how it happens, the lovers reunite after the war, establishing a peaceful life in Caracas, Venezuela, where Nadine works at a bank and Nelly at the French embassy.

Nelly was separated from her husband, and responsible for two young daughters, when the polizei arrested her at the Moliere statue in Paris. The girls were taken in by friends until liberation, and we're told that one came to dislike Nadine. (The movie is totally opaque on how Nelly eventually opts for life with Nadine rather than her kids.)

We learn here that Nelly and Nadine kept separate bedrooms, called themselves cousins, and held salon-type gatherings in their well-appointed apartment. "Nadine loved to film," we're told, and we see snippets of home movies spotlighting the glamorous Nelly.

It's unclear whether Nelly penned her poetic writings -- " snow like powdered sugar" -- at the camps themselves, or authored them -- "One day, if I return to my life..." after the war. Whatever the circumstances, her impressions can sustain us all:

"How to find the courage to survive?"

As "Nelly & Nadine" (2022 release from Sweden; 92 min.) opens, it is "April 28, 1945" and a large contingent of women reach Malmo, Sweden, including Nadine Wang. The event was recorded by multiple sources, and we get some amazing footage. The voice-over wonders what Nadine was thinking about "and I found the answer in northern France". We are introduced to Sylvie, the granddaughter of Nelly, and keeper of tons of archive materials which she has never reviewed closely... until now. At this point we are 10 minutes into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from Swedish producer-director magnus Gertten ("Every Face Has a Name"). Here he carefully reconstructs the absolutely remarkable story of two women who meet in a concentration camp, get split up, and what came thereafter. The movie uses Sylvie's reading of numerous documents and watching ample 8mm footage to built the story, layer upon layer. The movie's pace is deliberately quite slow, so that we can register what we are hearing and watching. There is a fantastic classical score to accentuate it all.

"Nelly & Nadine" was released in late 2022, presumably so as to qualify for the Oscar nominations, which it failed to garner. Don't let that fool you. This documentary id currently rated 94% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and for good reason. I stumbled onto this film last night on Amazon Prime. So glad I found this. Not only is the story remarkable, but it contains a ton of footage that has high historical value as well. If you are in the mood for a moving love story of a different kind, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Magnus Gertten's 2022 documentary 'Nelly & Nadine', the classic love story of 2 survivors of the Nazi concentration camps of WWII, is also a film about film-making. Gertten patiently constructs a fragmented narrative to reflect his main subject's trepidation. Sylvie Bianchi is the granddaughter of Nelly Mousset-Vos, a Belgian opera singer who fell in love with a mysterious Chinese national Nadine Hwang when they met over a rendition of Puccini's 'Madame Butterfly' on Christmas Eve 1944 at Ravensbrück. In 'Nelly & Nadine', this farmer's wife in idyllic Northern France embarks on a personal journey in relation to this remarkable couple.

It reminds me of another recent film, 2022's 'Three Minutes: A Lengthening'. Bianca Stigter's forensic examination of old cine film of a Polish village immediately before the Holocaust (based on the book 'Three Minutes In Poland' by musician Glenn Kurtz published in 2014) uses the moving images of people and place as a research tool for examining bite-sized pieces of erased history. 'Nadine & Nelly' starts with the archive of women refugees liberated by the Red Cross disembarking at Malmö, Sweden, on 28th April 1945, Gertten (who has made two other films about women shown in these pictures, 'Harbour of Hope' (2021) and 'Every Face Has a Name' (2015)) lets the camera hover over Nadine Hwang's intriguingly long gaze. What is she thinking? How did she get here? And we're off ...

It's fair to say there are bumps in the road. Sylvie's grandmother left behind a mysterious Pandora's box of documents. By presenting 'pieces' of a story , the film raises as many questions as it answers. Gradually, a little frustratingly at times, it sets out to answer them, so I did eventually find out what I wanted to know. Probably history will take care of the rest, but for the purposes of this film 'Nelly & Nadine' is a beautiful story that affected me very deeply.

A couple of noteworthy things. Reels of Super 8 film are very illuminating, mostly shot by Nadine during the couple's life in Caracas after the war, adding 'colour' and intimacy which a still photo would struggle to convey. There is also powerful prose and poetic verse, entries from Nelly's diary manuscripts which the couple worked on together after the war with a view to publishing (rejected, strangely, possibly because of the nature of their relationship and social taboos of the time). Pure horror is Nelly's account of the couple's first separation "At the top, crowning the mountain, lies the camp, Mauthausen, the antechamber of hell", the 5 days and nights of the train journey described in harrowing detail along with the still image of the infamous 186-step 'Staircase Of Death' carved out of stone up which quarry workers were forced to carry huge slabs of stone until they dropped dead.

The film contains many other aspects, not least highlighting the journey of discovery Sylvie goes on, but 'Nelly & Nadine' comes good by the end, so it's well worth watching Gertten & Co.'s account of this remarkable couple's life. British viewers can watch on BBC iPlayer as part of the 'Storyville' collection of award-winning documentaries.