The Tango Player (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The tango player |
| Country of production | Germany , Switzerland |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1991 |
| length | 96 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Roland Graef |
| script | Roland Graef |
| production |
DEFA , KAG Johannisthal CSM Film-AG , Switzerland WDR |
| music |
Günther Fischer Astor Piazzolla Julio César Sanders |
| camera | Peter Ziesche |
| cut | Monika Schindler |
| occupation | |
| |
The Tango Player is a feature film by DEFA -Studio Babelsberg GmbH in collaboration with CSM Film-AG from Switzerland and Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln ( ARD ) by Roland Gräf from 1991 based on the story of the same name by Christoph Hein from 1989.
action
Dr. Hans Peter Dallow is released from prison in 1968 , to which he was sentenced to 21 months two years ago. He is a historian and was previously senior assistant at the historical faculty of Leipzig University and can now only write his name with difficulty when he is released. For the law enforcement officer , the job title in the papers is a bit confusing because he started prison as a pianist . After almost two years of absence, he finds his apartment, just as he left it, very dusty. His first path leads him to an old friend, the waiter Harry, in his former regular restaurant. Here he happens to meet his lawyer Kiewer, who has defended him at the court hearing, whom he only wants to greet, as well as the judge Dr. Berger, who condemned him and with whom he exchanged a few unkind words. One of the next few days, Dallow takes a trip with his red Wartburg on the streets in the brown coal area south of Leipzig, in order to finally feel the feeling of speed again. After his return, his phone rings and a Mr. Schulze from the city council answers who absolutely wants to speak to him personally and appoints him to the local court for the next day, stating that he has no choice. In the evening Dallow goes to a bar and meets the 27-year-old bookseller Elke Schütte, who takes him home with her. Elke has already expected to take a man with her because she has foresighted her daughter Cornelia, who usually sleeps in a room with her, billeted in the hallway. The next morning Elke leaves the apartment with her daughter, but leaves an apartment key for Hans Peter.
Dallow is expected before the local court by Mr. Schulze, who introduces his colleague Müller. These two names cause a certain cheerfulness in Dallow. Together they go to an office in the house and the two gentlemen offer Dallow that he can start work in his old faculty again the next day. The only condition is that he work with them and provide information, but he declines the offer. In front of the university he waits for the former student Sylvia, with whom he once had a relationship, but she has lost interest in him. Now that he's at university, he goes to his former office and is warmly welcomed by the secretary, only with his successor Roessler there are unpleasant scenes. He then goes home and gets drunk. Then Dallow first drives to his parents, who live in a small village in the north of the GDR . The mother is happy to see him, but the father explains that he has not visited him because he does not want to put his feet over a prison threshold, regardless of the reason for his arrest. Hans Peter assured his parents that he was only in prison because he played the piano, which his father does not believe. After his return, Messrs. Schulze and Müller ring the doorbell of his apartment to ask whether he has considered their offer in the meantime. Since he still does not consent, they let him understand that they can not only help, but can also be a hindrance, and they say goodbye with the threat that they will come back.
Several weeks after one night spent at Elke's, he rings her doorbell again to sleep with her. At first she doesn't want to, but he can get her around. In bed he tells about his life, that he was in prison for almost two years and how it came about: In the student cabaret, the pianist fell ill, so he accompanied the performers on the piano on behalf of the performers. They had lyrics in their songs that some people didn't like. He didn't notice it until the next morning when two uniformed men stood in front of the door. That was the sole reason for his arrest.
Since he doesn't want to go back to university, but also refuses to work as a pianist again, he tries to get a job as a driver . However, he receives a rejection of all applications if the interview comes to his imprisonment. One evening he meets his defense attorney and the judge again in his local pub. Both thank him for inviting him to the presentation of the student cabaret, which had played the same performance as two years ago. Both confirm that they were very amused, but emphasize that this does not change anything in the decisions made back then, but you can see from this that society has made quite a bit of progress since then. Dr. Dallow can credibly affirm that he did not write the invitation. He will then find out that it was someone who was arrested with him at the time. To the judge Dr. He is so angry with Berger that he ambushes him and in a park almost chokes to the point of unconsciousness.
During a celebration with Elke's friends, when asked, he explains that he no longer works as a historian , was in jail and is no longer interested in politics, especially not in the events in Prague . That's why Elke throws him out with the comment that he can't come back until he's sorted himself out. Even his two Messrs. Schulze and Müller don't give up. Now they are trying to accuse him of being lazy. Even his successor tries to convince him to work in the faculty again. The idea is not from him, but from Dr. Berger, he admits, and only one assistant position is planned. In order to finally avoid all harassment, he learns to wait with the help of his friend Harry and applies for the summer in a restaurant on the island of Hiddensee . He is accepted there, wants to say goodbye to Elke and since there is another argument, he is thrown out of her apartment again.
Dallow lives and works on the island, until one day, Sylvia, who is now working at the University, appears and tells him a story: On August 21, the students discussed the early morning upset about the invasion of the states of the Warsaw Pact in Prague. Her lecturer was still clueless and asked about the source of the information. The students admitted that they heard this only on western radio stations. The lecturer stated that they were the victims of a provocation , because the socialist states would certainly not take such an action. When the students gave him the TASS announcement after the daily newspapers appeared , he left the seminar and after a few hours he was suspended from office . He is now working as an assistant and is no longer allowed to give lectures. Dallow's assumption that it is Roessler is confirmed by Sylvia. She also says that she was sent to replace Roessler in his former position on the faculty. He agrees and will adapt to the system. On September 1, 1968, Dallow signs his employment contract.
production
The dramaturgy was in the hands of Gabriele Herzog , the music interpreter on the piano was Klaus-Peter Hermann. The DEFA -Studio Babelsberg GmbH (artistic working group “Johannisthal”) took over the completion of this co-production. The tango player was shot on Eastman-Color with exterior shots in Berlin , Leipzig and the island of Hiddensee . The film premiered on February 18, 1991 during the International Film Festival in Berlin's Zoo Palast cinema ; general cinema release began on February 28, 1991 in Berlin's Kino International . The television premiere took place on July 7, 1993 in the 1st program of ARD .
criticism
Reinhard Wengierek found in the Neue Zeit that Roland Gräf had all the prerequisites to make a very good feature film: a perfect story, an exciting dramaturgy, a pointed screenplay, excellent actors and a good cameraman. And yet the result was just good, not first class. Instead of a sarcastic, dry comedy on the edge of the farce, he rather staged an ironic, moist, wistful elegy. Only in the last quarter of an hour does his film get the drive appropriate to the original, but the film never gets the right light.
Günter Sobe from the Berliner Zeitung thinks he has noticed that the film was not accepted by the audience and thinks that this is due to the way it is narrated. Exactly is not enough. The realism is translated too brittle and the conventional film language is too sparse. He thinks Günter Fischer's music is psychologically awkward, because it shouldn't be used illustratively to support feelings, but rather counterpoint it, in order to provoke the unreal of the situation. This would make much wider emotional effects conceivable.
For the lexicon of international film , this film is a solidly staged and well-played literary film adaptation. Everyday life in the former GDR is depicted true to detail, but also strangely biased.
Awards
- 1991: German Film Award : Silver film tape as best film
- 1991: German Film Prize: Gold film tape for Michael Gwisdek as best actor
- 1991: IX. International Film Festival Bergamo / Italy : 1st prize - the golden "Rosa Camuna"
literature
- F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 596 to 597 .
Web links
- The tango players in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The tango player at filmportal.de
- The tango player at the DEFA foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of February 16, 1991, p. 12
- ↑ Neue Zeit of February 21, 1981, p. 13
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of February 20, 1991, p. 13
- ↑ The tango player. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 23, 2017 .