Life starts at eight
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Life starts at eight |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1962 |
| length | 100 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Michael Kehlmann |
| script | Horst Budjuhn |
| production | Utz Utermann |
| music | Peter Sandloff |
| camera | Kurt Hasse |
| cut | Gertrud Hinz |
| occupation | |
and Lissy Arna , Ursula Diestel , Edith Elsholtz , Hans Epskamp , Max Strassberg , Achim Strietzel , Egon Vogel | |
Life begins at 8 is a 1961 German drama by Michael Kehlmann with OE Hasse in the leading role. The film was based on the play "Die Licht Herzens sind" by Emlyn Williams .
action
The plot of the story takes place in the world of theater and has been moved from England to Germany (Berlin) for this film. The focus of the action is the former star among the character actors, the aging and meanwhile run-down Mime Thomas. Its great success dates back a while thanks to increasing memory interruptions and uncontrolled consumption of alcohol. In addition, his life is burdened by a serious personal debt that he bears towards his daughter: The old star who lives in a shabby apartment building is responsible for Cattrin's physical handicap. With his egocentricity he binds the young woman to himself in such a way that he literally constricts Cattrin the air for a life of her own. Rescue approaches in the form of a young composer who, out of pity for the battered Cattrin, promises him a role.
One day Thomas does not come to the evening performance scheduled for 8 p.m., which otherwise meant everything to him - hence the title “Life begins at eight” - but stumbles through the nightly streets of Berlin drunk. His world is collapsing because his daughter has learned from the patron who had given him another role that he is to blame for her physical ailments. Confronted in this way with his own failure, the drunkard finally commits suicide by throwing himself melodramatically and theatrically from the chaos of the place where his greatest successes were performed. But Cattrin, who in the end did not want to decide for her own life and happiness out of a pure sense of duty to her father and had sacrificed herself to the drunk egocentric, can now finally think of marriage and give a self-determined future a chance.
Production notes
Filming of Life Begins at 8 began in late November 1961 and was completed in mid-December of that year. The film passed the FSK on December 18, 1961 and was premiered on January 5, 1962 in the Berlin Marble House .
The film is based on a play by British writer and actor Emlyn Williams .
Johanna Matz , who was employed at the Burgtheater at that time (end of 1961) , was given a few weeks off from artistic director Ernst Haeussermann especially for the shooting . Matz: "Burgtheater director Häussermann only gave me leave because he thought this role was a very big task."
The former 20s and 30s star Lissy Arna played his last film role here after 22 years of film abstinence, and at the same time the only post-war role at all.
The film structures were designed by Hans Berthel and implemented by Johannes Ott .
Reviews
"The sad story of booze and suicide of a depraved mime gives actor OE Hasse the opportunity to effectively rumble through decorations, parody in front of cleaning ladies as 'King Lear' and finally throw himself off the floor because his daughter (Johanna Matz) finds out that he is to blame for her cripple ailments. Director Michael Kehlmann, who made this film based on Emlyn Williams' stage play 'The Light Hearts Are', limited himself to unimaginatively photographing the miming rampage of his main actor and embellishing it with old-fashioned cinematic tricks. "
“The larger than life actor portrait of the actor OE Hasse and the effectively contrasting pastel miniature of his daughter Johanna Matz are more aimed at persuasion than conviction. Even such good actors cannot make the story believable. (…) Michael Kehlmann followed the deadlocks of Horst Budjuhn's script (based on a play by Emlyn Williams) deep into the realms of the unnatural and set his film next to reality in the sand of sterile screen dreams. "
“The chronic misery of the German feature film tempts one to look all too hard for oases to save. From television, one tells oneself, the young and unspent generation comes to save the film. A beautiful mirage! Michael Kehlmann, the director of the film 'Life begins at eight', comes from television and has made a name for himself there. But if you watch the film, it is as unimaginatively perfect as its countless predecessors. (...) A film full of false notes and false feelings. In the midst of overflowing sentimentality, one sees an OE Hasse who trudges through the cinematic morass with childlike pleasure. "
In the lexicon of international films it says: "Despite the good leading actor, an all too tortured theater film full of discrepancies."
Web links
- Life begins at eight in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Life begins at eight at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Hamburger Abendblatt , December 2, 1961 edition
- ↑ Life begins at eight. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 31, 2015 .