The Popess (film)

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Movie
German title The Popess
Original title Pope Joan
Country of production Germany ,
Italy ,
Spain
original language English
Publishing year 2009
length 148 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Sönke Wortmann
script Sönke Wortmann,
Heinrich Hadding
production Martin Moszkowicz ,
Oliver Berben
music Marcel Barsotti
camera Tom Ferryman
cut Hans Funck
occupation

The Popess is a historical drama by the director Sönke Wortmann from 2009 . The film is based on the historical novel The Popess by the American writer Donna Woolfolk Cross from 1996 and describes the legend of Popess Johanna , who is said to have occupied the Holy See in the 9th century, from the High Middle Ages . The Popess was nominated for the German Film Prize in four categories in 2010 (best supporting actress - Jördis Triebel, set design, costumes, sound design). The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.

The world premiere of the film took place on October 19, 2009 in Berlin. The theatrical release in Germany was on October 22, 2009. The film grossed over 27 million US dollars worldwide (as of June 8, 2010), including over 25 million US dollars in Germany alone (as of February 14, 2010). On December 19, 2011, Das Erste showed the film in the extended version for the first time on public television.

content

action

In the year 814, shortly after Charlemagne's death , a girl named Johanna was born in Ingelheim am Rhein . She is the daughter of the local village priest, who is not happy about having female children. The father rules with a hard hand over his wife, who secretly prays to Wotan , and their children. Even as a young girl, Johanna is very inquisitive and eloquent. She persuades her older brother Matthias to teach her to read and write; They use the Bible with its Latin texts as a template. After Matthias' sudden death, the father wants to send his second son Johannes to the cathedral school in Dorstadt , but when the teacher Aesculapius visits Ingelheim, Johanna shows that she is much more capable of dealing with the Holy Scriptures than her brother: she is not only capable of the to understand Latin text, it also provides a flawless interpretation of the script read. Against the will of the father, Aesculapius teaches the girl and shows her literary works such as the Odyssey .

When an envoy from the bishop arrives to take Johanna to the cathedral school, her father claims there was a mistake and instead lets John ride with him. Johanna escapes from her parents' house at night and catches up with her brother, whose companion has since been murdered. Together they get to Dorstadt, where Johanna impressed the bishop with her researchy manner. He arranges for the monk Odo's siblings to be accepted into his class, even though he is very hostile towards the girl. The girl receives support from Count Gerold, who takes her into his house and falls in love with the growing woman. Some time later the count has to go to war at the side of Emperor Lothar I , whereupon his wife Richilde tries to get rid of the rival by marrying Johanna. During the wedding, however, the Normans invade the city and organize a slaughter in which both Johannes and Gerold's wife and children are killed. Johanna only survives after she is knocked unconscious and believed dead.

When she wakes up, she interprets her survival as divine providence and decides to assume the identity of her murdered brother. From his possession she took a document with which the bishop had been instructed to send Johannes to the school of the Fulda monastery in the event of his failure . She cuts her hair, ties her breast flat and enters the Benedictine monastery as "Brother Johannes Anglicus" . She impressed the other monks with her knowledge of medicine and saved an older woman and her children from a dangerous infectious disease. In doing so, she recognized the talent of her eldest son Arn and enabled him to attend the convent school. One day she receives a visit from her elderly father, who suffers a mortal shock when he realizes that he is not facing his son Johannes. A short time later, the fever spreads in the monastery, which also affects Johanna. She resists a physical examination, and her mentor Brother Benedict helps her escape so that no one can identify her true gender.

At first Johanna finds shelter with Arn and teaches his daughter Arnalda, but after a while she decides to disguise herself as a man again and embark on a pilgrimage to Rome . There she soon acquired a good reputation as a medicus with her medicinal knowledge and increased her reputation even further when she succeeded in relieving the incumbent Pope Sergius II from gout with herbal remedies . The Holy Father appoints her as his personal physician and later as his nomenclator , without realizing that it is a woman. Finally, Emperor Lothar I threatens the Pope, because he did not let him confirm his election, and moves with his army to Rome to subjugate Sergius. Gerold also comes to town in his wake. Thanks to a hydraulic device that Johanna and Gerold had once built on a small scale according to ancient Greek instructions, the large gate of the papal palace now automatically closes in front of Lothar's soldiers, which they interpret as a divine symbol. Lothar has to bow to the Pope. Gerold recognizes Johanna and confesses his affection for her, but she is initially torn between her female and male identity.

Meanwhile, the antipope Anastasius , who is allied with Lothar, is weaving an intrigue that is said to end with the murder of Pope Sergius. The attack was successful, which is why the people gathered to choose a successor by acclamation . Since Johanna and Gerold assume that Anastasius will win the election, they plan to leave Rome. There they learn that Johanna has been appointed as Christ's representative. In her pontificate she presents herself as a benevolent Pope and helps both the poor and women. She also appoints Gerold as commander of the papal army. In her prayers, she asks herself why a life as a servant of God and her private happiness should not be possible at the same time, and secretly meets with Gerold. The intimate meetings were not without consequences, and suddenly her pregnancy put her in danger. Gerold tries to persuade her to flee immediately, but she really wants to hold out until Easter. During the Easter procession, the conspirators lure Gerold into a deadly trap at Anastasius's behest. Almost at the same time, Johanna miscarried on the street and died.

Anastasius declares himself to be her successor, but is soon deposed by the Roman people and banished to a monastery. There he wrote the Liber Pontificalis , a list of all popes, with the exception of Joan. Many years later, Bishop Arnaldo, who turns out to be Arnalda, Arn's daughter, at the end of the film, is looking for the story of Popess Johanna in order to receive at least one copy for posterity with a Liber Pontificalis supplemented with her story. These investigations by Bishop Arnaldo form the framework of the film.

Differences from the novel

In the book, Joan experiences the pontificate of Pope Sergius II and Leo IV at court before she herself was elected to succeed the latter. For the film, the two pontificate of Johanna's predecessors were merged into one, so that Leo IV does not appear in the film. Similar to the two popes, various secondary characters are merged at the papal court: Benedict, Sergius' brother and deputy, was replaced by Anastasius in the film, probably to bring this character into the picture.

In contrast to the film, Johanna spends her first night together with Gerold in the book not by a river, but in an empty house. This remains their only night together, while the film suggests that there were several nights of love. In addition, the relationship between Johanna and Gerold in their childhood is only dealt with briefly in the film, while there is a link between them in the book, a wolf named Lukas raised by Gerold and Johanna. This is killed by Richhild after Gerold's departure and thus symbolically the last bond of the lovers is separated for years.

In the book, Johanna's secret is only revealed three times before the end: 1. By her father during his visit to Fulda. 2. By Arn, after escaping from the monastery. 3. By Gerold after his arrival in Rome. In none of the three cases Johanna reveals herself. In the film, however, Johanna reveals herself to her father, and it turns out that her mentor brother Benedikt in the monastery in Fulda knows about her true identity.

In the film, the steward Arighis does not die, whereas in the book he sacrificed himself for Pope Leo in a devastating fire during the pontificate of Pope Leo IV, the building project of the Leonine Wall. Furthermore, Arighis never held the office of papal nomenclator in the book. Arighis' successor in the book is a boy named Waldipert, who works for Bishop Arsenius (father of Anastasius) and poisons Leo. In the film, Waldipert is Sergius 'valet, but he is also in Arsenius' service. One does not learn anything about Waldipert's murder in the film. In the book, Renatus is Sergius' servant and not Johannas. Likewise, Zelestinus is not mentioned in the film, while in the book he is the valet at the papal court.

It is also particularly noticeable that in the film adaptation Johanna's white-blonde hair, which is depicted as particularly characteristic in the novel, was omitted. Instead, the adult actress Johannas (Johanna Wokalek) has dark brown hair, while the two young actresses still have blonde hair.

In general, many events in the film are arranged chronologically differently than in the novel. Some events, such as Johanna's marriage, are put back in time: in the novel she is 14 years old, while in the film she is around 18-19 years old. Other events are preferred, such as the proposal to appoint Nicephoros bishop, which in the novel falls into the pontificate of Joan, whereas in the film it takes place at the time of Sergius' pontificate.

production

The long history of production of the film was marked by financial and personal adversity.

Since 1999 Oscar winner Volker Schlöndorff has tried to film Donna Cross' novel, initially with the production companies UFA and Senator , after the Senator 2004 with Bernd Eichinger and Constantin Film after bankruptcy . The start of shooting, which was finally planned for the beginning of 2007, was canceled after John Goodman rejected him, but in the end he played in the film. The following summer, an article by Schlöndorff in the Süddeutsche Zeitung , which dealt critically with productions that are made for cinema and television at the same time, led to his dismissal. Instead, Sönke Wortmann was commissioned to direct. Shortly thereafter, Franka Potente, initially intended for the lead role, was replaced by Johanna Wokalek . The production budget was estimated at 22 million euros.

Filming began in early August 2008 at the Burg Querfurt in Saxony-Anhalt and lasted until November 2008. Other locations of the North Rhine-Westphalian city Schmidtheim and the cloister of the country Pforta and St. Cyriakus in Gernrode . The scenes that take place in Rome were created in Ouarzazate, Morocco .

The feature film is one of the so-called amphibian films ; In addition to a theatrical version, a longer television version was created.

criticism

Katharina Dorn from Focus praises the authentic design of the Middle Ages and attests the director “a sensitive feel for historical material. [...] Wortmann succeeds in building up an arc of suspense that keeps the audience enthralled, even if some developments can be foreseen. "

Hannah Pilarczyk criticizes Spiegel Online for “the choice of a narrator”, which means that the film lacks “Johanna's inner perspective”. "Sönke Wortmann misses his chance for a big historical film - and expects his leading actress to do a grotesque gender balance."

Margret Köhler states that everything is going "solidly and, despite all bloodthirstiness, a little bloodless". "[...] the camera sometimes spends little miracles, creates pictures like paintings, but one would have wished for a last bit of courage and radicalism with this exceptional personality, from whom Claudia Roth could still learn something."

Georg Fahrion vom Stern thinks that “only writers would be bothered by the fact that the characters are pretty one-dimensional”. The film is "opulent popcorn cinema , entertaining and filmed grandiose".

The lexicon of international films said: “The rambling, pleasing adaptation paints the Middle Ages in dark colors, against which the story of the title character's suffering stands out. Elaborately, but highly conventionally staged, the melodrama shows no particular interest in the discourses associated with the subject. "

Rüdiger Suchsland sees only one thing as positive in his review of Telepolis : “The only small, brief ray of hope here is John Goodman's appearance as Pope. Goodman knows he's in a bad movie, finds himself in shaky cardboard backdrops under a bad director, and makes up for it because he just does what he wants, makes up his own movie. "

Historical background

The temporal background of the story is formed by the inheritance disputes that raged after the death of Louis the Pious (840) between his descendants (Lothar, Pippin and Ludwig) and the invasions of the Normans into the Frankish Empire. In 841 there was a battle between Lothar and his two younger brothers near Fontenoy, which ended in Lothar's defeat. In the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the Franconian Empire was divided into a western, eastern and a central empire. As emperor, Lothar receives the Middle Kingdom that extends from the North Sea coast to Rome. After his death, the Middle Kingdom is divided between Ludwig II (Italy) , Lothar II (Lorraine) and Charles (Burgundy, Provence).

Research findings on the existence of the Popess

There is no historical evidence of the existence of Popess Joan. Information about her life appears sporadically in chronicles (especially in Martin von Troppaus "Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum"), and even these were only added later in the 13th century. Even if the majority of modern historiography speaks of a legend, the phenomenon is studied on a large scale; from lexicon articles (lexicon of the Middle Ages, lexicon for theology and the church, biographical-bibliographical church lexicon) to monographic specialist literature.

By embedding the actually legendary story in historical events and locations, the film tries to suggest authenticity and faithfulness to the source. The narrator introduces the story with Joan's entry in the chronicle of the popes , which, as a prominent medium inherent in the action, is intended to provide authentication and contextualization. In the course of history, historical sources, events (Norman invasions, throne disputes, battle of Fontenoy) and people (popes, emperors) are repeatedly called upon as witnesses to the “authenticity” of the legend.

Historical inaccuracies

Legend

  • The legend of Popess Joan first appears in the Chronica universalis Mettensis by Jean de Mailly in the middle of the 13th century. In the film, Bishop Arnaldo publishes her “story” in the 'liber pontificalis' already 40 years after her death, AD 887.

Furnishing

  • The Lombards plundered and destroyed Rome for many years. The backdrops of Rome most likely come from the Roman Empire and are accordingly magnificent. The papal audience room is a former meeting place of the Senate, lined with marble and columns. The clothes of the bishops are also made according to ancient models.
  • The monastery church in Fulda was built between 791 and 819 based on the model of the old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The "Film Church" Gernrode , on the other hand, is a Romanesque building from 959.

Actions

  • The liber pontificalis was created as early as 530. Anastasius III. (Antipope 855) revised and added the first part, it was completed in the 9th century. It describes extraordinary deeds of the respective popes, but not their biographies. In the film, Anastasius, as Johanna's opponent, writes the book in exile, but withholds her pontificate out of revenge. It is completed by the Bishop of Paris Arnaldo around 887.
  • The Battle of Fontenoy (841) and the Treaty of Verdun (843) are scheduled before 840 in the film.
  • The wedding ceremony corresponds to today's mass with incense, white robes and acolytes.
  • The Harnschau is handed down from the St. Gallen monastery history for the doctor Notger in the middle of the 10th century.

Spoken language

  • Although the geographical and cultural differences within and between the realms were very large, the people speak the same language and do not differ in any (cultural) way. This fact could indicate a lingua franca , but it is not explicitly explained. In learned oral discourse, Latin (and the Greek script) is spoken with an English accent, but the language is artificial and rhetorical (book language). Belief in God and the divinely predetermined course of the world is integrated into every sentence and made clear (“If God wants it” etc.).

discourse

  • Aesculapius says during a conversation with Johanna's father: "Cogito, ergo Deus est." , Which becomes Johanna's leitmotif. → "Cogito, ergo sum." ( René Descartes , 1596–1650)
  • While Lothar kneels in front of Sergius, the crowd shouts: “Deus vult!” . This is the motto of the crusades in the 11th century at the Synod of Clermont under Pope Urban II.
  • In the 9th century the Pope is Peter's deputy, not Christ. Sergius and Johanna, however, both refer to themselves as Christ's representatives.

Incidental music

  • Due to a lack of sources (notes, performance reports) from the 9th century, it is difficult to depict a performance situation (instruments, music, performers) at an episcopal court (Dorstadt). The transmission of Greek music theory and (instrumental) music practice in the Roman Empire is secured thanks to representations and literary evidence. Independent instrumental music only emerged in the late Renaissance; in the Middle Ages it was (improvised) part of a vocal practice (e.g. song accompaniment for troubadours). Minstrels on permanent duty at court ( Ménestrels ) with the (in the film) authentically portrayed instruments ( tuba , aulos , tympanum , lyre , fiddle , organ ) are only definitely documented in the High Middle Ages.

Audio film

In 2010, Bayerischer Rundfunk and Constantin Film produced an audio version of the film for television broadcasts and for publication on DVD and Blu-Ray. The image description spoken by Beate Himmelstoss received the German audio film award in 2011 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Popess. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed October 22, 2009 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ a b Certificate of Release for The Popess . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry, September 2009 (PDF; test number: 119 813 K).
  3. ↑ a b The Popess (2009) - box office results. In: Internet Movie Database . Retrieved February 12, 2011 .
  4. ↑ Fritz Göttler: It's about money, a lot of money. (No longer available online.) Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 23, 2007, archived from the original on October 27, 2009 ; Retrieved October 23, 2009 .
  5. ↑ Peter Zander: First Gudrun Ensslin, now the Popess. Berliner Morgenpost, June 2, 2008, accessed on October 23, 2009 .
  6. ↑ Rome is everywhere - the locations. (No longer available online.) The Popess' Blog, September 18, 2009, archived from the original on October 21, 2009 ; Retrieved October 23, 2009 .
  7. ↑ Katharina Dorn: Exciting, touching, dirty. Focus, October 22, 2009, accessed October 23, 2009 .
  8. ↑ Hannah Pilarczyk: Forgive us our debacle. Spiegel Online, October 22, 2009, accessed October 23, 2009 .
  9. ^ Margret Koehler: Criticism. Kino.de , accessed on December 29, 2011 .
  10. ^ Georg Fahrion: Church history as opulent popcorn cinema. Stern, October 22, 2009, accessed October 23, 2009 .
  11. ^ Rüdiger Suchsland: The super woman of the Middle Ages. Telepolis, October 22, 2009, accessed October 23, 2009 .
  12. ^ Johannes fragrance: The Abbey of St. Gallen, Volume II: Contributions to the knowledge of their personalities . Sigmaringen 1991, p. 158.
  13. ^ The Popess in the Hörfilm database of Hörfilm e. V.
  14. ↑ 9th German Audio Film Award 2011