The Old Lady's Visit (2008)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The visit of the old lady |
| Country of production | Austria , Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2008 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Nikolaus Leytner |
| script | Susanne Beck Thomas Eifler |
| production | Regina Ziegler |
| music | Matthias Weber |
| camera | Hermann Dunzendorfer |
| cut | Andreas Kopriva |
| occupation | |
| |
The Visit of the Old Lady is an Austrian - German television film by Nikolaus Leytner from 2008. The literary film adaptation is based on the drama of the same name by Friedrich Dürrenmatt .
action
The plot is based on the drama, but includes some deviations and modernized stylistic devices that cannot be found in the original text. On the one hand, the plot was moved to the present, on the other hand, a new person was introduced with Mia Mohr.
Güllen, once a flourishing place, is completely impoverished after the largest factory has closed. The hopes of the small town residents rest on the visit of the extremely wealthy Claire Zachanassian, who once lived in Güllen and allegedly wants to free the Güllener from her difficult fate with a substantial injection of money. When Claire unexpectedly lands in a helicopter (actually she was supposed to come by train), the residents send their former lover Alfred Ill ( Ill ), the local car dealer, in front. This refreshes memories by taking them through the beautiful area around Güllen and to their old love nests. The intimate togetherness is only disturbed by the fact that he uses the car in which he and Claire had a serious car accident. When he asks about children on a boat tour, Claire breaks off the rendezvous. Nevertheless, it holds out the prospect of a substantial injection of funds.
At a banquet in her honor, she announces that a sum of two billion euros is to be divided among the villagers. But she tied the whole thing to one condition: she wanted justice for what was once done to her in Güllen, and would only write the check if Alfred Ill died. The villagers firmly reject Claire's proposal and stand behind the car dealer. The press then invaded the city, including the committed TV reporter Mia Mohr, the daughter of Alfred Ill and his wife Angelika.
However, as more and more facts about Claire's tragic accident come to light, the mood changes: after being drunk into a tree, Claire was left at Ill's bedside, who then married Angelika for the money even though Claire was pregnant by him. However, Claire survived. In a subsequent trial, Ill, along with other residents, denied Claire and portrayed her as a whore. Claire taught herself to walk again and left Güllen. The child was born dead, and Claire has not been able to have children since.
After these revelations, the Güllener suddenly begin to take out loans, which are also approved by the sleazy savings bank owner Oliver Marx.
Alfred seeks help from the police officer Lutz Wolff, who claims, however, that he cannot do anything about inciting murder, since Claire had not explicitly asked for the murder. When Alfred wants to leave, he discovers the files from the accident on the desk. Meanwhile, Oliver Marx offers himself to Claire as a hit man, but Claire refuses sharply. It is about justice. The mood continues to worsen, Alfred is avoided, and his wife is slowly beginning to have doubts about her husband's honesty. Alfred himself becomes paranoid and smells murderers everywhere. The Güllener pretend that they knew nothing of Alfred's intrigue at the time, although several people were guilty of perjury . This is increased by the fact that even his friends, like the mayor, whose wife has just had twins, and the pastor suddenly make new investments. Mia Mohr talks to Claire and also tells about her fate: She also fled Güllen because her father had something against her relationship with a man. She has never spoken to her father since then.
Surprisingly, Alfred is invited to the hunt and finds new hope. During the hunt, strangers open fire on him and he flees to his car dealership. The target is shot there. Alfred wants to flee, but at the station he is held by the residents of Güllen and “warmly farewell” until his train leaves without him. The mayor, still not entirely convinced of Alfred's murder, proposes to Claire to buy the old factory in order not to plunge the village into a moral crisis. But Claire frankly admits that she has owned the factory for a long time and that she has closed it.
The mayor is now calling a referendum to decide the life and death of Alfred. Alfred receives a pistol from Lutz Wolff to shoot himself in order to save the gathering and so that the people from Güllen do not have to become murderers. However, Ill refuses to relieve them of the decision as well as the blame. He goes to Claire one last time and confesses to her that he was behind the wheel of the accident vehicle. However, she has long known that. He asks if she can forgive him, but she says no. They kiss again. He then makes peace with his daughter.
In the referendum he is sentenced to death. Meanwhile, Claire has decided to forgive Ill after all and rushes to the meeting to prevent the murder. Meanwhile, Mia tries to prevent her father from being murdered with a camera, but the people from Güllen have completely surrounded Ill. When Claire appears in the hall and the crowd dissolves, he is already dead. Claire hands the check to the mayor and describes him as a "murderer" on behalf of all Güllener. Then she boards her helicopter and leaves Güllen.
background
Susanne Beck and Thomas Efler wrote the screenplay for the film, relocated the play to the present and removed a number of elements that would have seemed anachronistic today . So the general goods dealer Alfred Ill became a car dealership owner, Claire does not travel by train, but a Learjet and a helicopter, and there are cell phones . Other details have also been changed, most notably the introduction of Alfred Ill's daughter. The further life story of Claire has been omitted. The course of the plot is still based on the literary model.
The film was produced by ARD and ORF . On October 13, 2008, in honor of the 70th birthday of the leading actress Christiane Hörbiger , the film was broadcast simultaneously on ORF 2 and on Das Erste . On the occasion of Hörbiger's 75th birthday, the television film was broadcast repeatedly on ORF 2 on October 5, 2013 and on ARD on October 13. A DVD version was released on October 20, 2008 by Universum Film .
Reviews
The film was praised primarily for its accuracy and modern staging. The top-class actors also contributed to the success of the film.
"Largely true to the original television remake of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's tragic comedy, the plot of which has been relocated to the present. A classic of modern times about revenge, bigotry, cowardice and corruptibility, carried by a high-class ensemble. "
The literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki described the film as “being taken very seriously” and praised the performance of the actors, but said: “In the end it was [...] not good. The second half got worse and worse. "
Awards
At the 15th Shanghai International TV Festival 2009, Susanne Beck and Thomas Eifler received the award for the best screenplay of a television film for The Visit of the Old Lady .
Web links
- The visit of the old lady in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The old lady’s visit to filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ The visit of the old lady. ORF presented Dürrenmatt remake with Christiane Hörbiger. TV premiere and ORF present for the 70th birthday. (No longer available online.) ORF customer service , archived from the original on January 18, 2015 ; Retrieved February 8, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b The Old Lady's Visit in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on February 8, 2010
- ↑ Given the occasion. Marcel Reich-Ranicki in conversation with Thomas Gottschalk. ZDF , October 17, 2008, 10:30 p.m., accessed on November 16, 2013 .
- ↑ Awards for German productions in Shanghai and Monte Carlo ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 9, 2010
