The damned
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Damned (Götterdämmerung) |
| Original title | La caduta degli dei |
| Country of production | Italy , Germany |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1969 |
| length | 155 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Luchino Visconti |
| script |
Nicola Badalucco Enrico Medioli Luchino Visconti |
| production |
Alfredo Levy Ever Haggiag |
| music | Maurice Jarre |
| camera | Armando Nannuzzi , Pasquale De Santis |
| cut | Ruggero Mastroianni |
| occupation | |
| |
Die Verdammten is a German-Italian feature film from 1969. The original Italian title La caduta degli dei is based on the customary Italian translation of the title of the fourth part ("Third Day") of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen , Götterdämmerung , elected.
In this opulently equipped historical film by Luchino Visconti , the industrial family von Essenbeck tries to renovate itself by working with the National Socialists and instead drives its own disintegration.
content
When the news of the Reichstag fire arrived in February 1933, the different political opinions of the von Essenbeck family of German industrialists became apparent. The conservative senior boss Joachim is murdered the following night at the behest of the National Socialists. Then the liberal family member Herbert Thallmann, who vehemently rejects the Nazis, is blamed for the deed. Herbert has to flee abroad, his wife and two daughters are later sent to the concentration camp. The real perpetrator Friedrich Bruckmann rises to the position of general agent. The opportunistic careerist Friedrich is also the lover of Sophie von Essenbeck, the widow of Joachim's favorite son, who died in World War I.
Konstantin von Essenbeck, Joachim's only surviving son, initially took over management of the company. The rather coarse SA man is soon in a fight with Sophie and Bruckmann for the company management. The lovers are hoping for help from Sophie's cousin, the powerful SS officer Aschenbach, who lively forges intrigues among the Essenbecks to bring the company management (and thus the armaments industry, which was so important for the war) under his control. Aschenbach and Bruckmann shoot Konstantin, who is currently participating in an SA orgy, in the course of the Röhm campaign in 1934 . Now the family empire seems to be firmly in the hands of Sophie and Bruckmann, but Aschenbach has further plans: The SS officer now wants to get rid of his previous helper, Bruckmann, because he sees him only as an opportunist, not a convinced National Socialist.
Aschenbach uses the pedophile disposition known to him of Sophie's only son Martin von Essenbeck: The Jewish girl Lisa, molested by Martin, hanged herself; The case was covered up by Aschenbach, but now he uses it to harness Martin for National Socialism. Martin and Aschenbach also pull Gunther, Konstantin's liberal son, who was dragged down by the cruel family events, to their side by presenting Herbert as Konstantin's sole murderer. In his blind hatred, Martin rapes his mother, who has always dominated him so far, in order to humiliate and destroy her. Thereupon he forces Sophie and Bruckmann to marry together with the subsequent blatant invitation to commit suicide, which also takes place. In the end, Martin is the sole ruler of the Essenbeck steel works, but is also hopelessly lost in the hands of the National Socialists.
background
Karl Hass , former SS-Sturmbannführer and perpetrator of the massacre in the Ardeatine caves , played as an extra. Other German actors in small roles were the actor Klaus Höhne and the politician's son Peter Brandt .
Piero Tosi and Vera Marzot were responsible for the costumes .
synchronization
The German dubbed version was created for the cinema premiere in 1969. Helmut Griem (as Aschenbach), René Koldehoff (as Konstantin), Albrecht Schoenhals (as Joachim) and Irina Wanka (as the girl Lisa) spoke themselves in the German version.
| role | actor | German Dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Friedrich Bruckmann | Dirk Bogarde | Eckart Dux |
| Sophie von Essenbeck | Ingrid Thulin | Ursula Traun |
| Martin von Essenbeck | Helmut Berger | Jürgen Clausen |
| Günther von Essenbeck | Renaud Verley | Michael Ande |
| Herbert Thallmann | Umberto Orsini | Horst Naumann |
| Elisabeth Thallmann | Charlotte Rampling | Gertrud Kückelmann |
| Olga | Florinda Bolkan | Lis Verhoeven |
| Hilde Thallmann | Karen Mittendorf | Andrea L'Arronge |
| inspector | Mark Salvage | Til Kiwe |
| Janek | Wolfgang Hillinger | Michael Rüth |
| dean | Howard Nelson Rubien | Robert Klupp |
Reviews
Hardly any other Visconti film was as controversial as The Damned . Critics accused the director of inappropriately translating such a serious topic as German National Socialism into a melodramatic opera. The film is full of allusions to the German Krupp dynasty . Helmut Berger played a major role in the role of Martin von Essenbeck for the first time under Visconti's direction and became an international star.
"Visconti's first part of his" German Trilogy "is an attempt to show connections between moral decadence, sexual neurosis, the aesthetic longing for death, narcissistic self-centeredness and political opportunism in the guise of an operatic melodrama. In places the analysis of fascist consciousness succeeds impressively, but overall the staging all too often weakens the historical explosiveness of the material through its decorative length and artificial stylization. "
“Visconti's cinematic giant painting about the self-destructive fall of a German industrial dynasty during the Hitler era. The film is deprived of its believable basis through a forced focus on reality, which in this form had to become “unhistorical”. What remains is an oversized cabinet of curiosities in which you can choose from: good acting, Visconti's mastery of images, colossal arrangements, scenic farces and stilted dialogues. "
“With this film Visconti staged an opulent mixture of melodrama, analysis of fascism and the disclosure of moral decadence. Visconti's temporary partner Helmut Berger plays the role of Martin von Essenbeck, who prefers to appear as a transvestite than to take care of the family empire, particularly well. "
Awards
The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 1970 . Helmut Berger was nominated for Best Young Actor at the Golden Globe Awards in 1970 .
Web links
- Casualties in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ profile , issue 33/2008. In a role as an SA man?
- ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Movies | The damned. Retrieved January 13, 2018 .
- ↑ The Damned. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association, Munich, Review No. 54/1970
- ↑ The damned at Prisma