Konrad Steiner's sudden loneliness

Movie
Original title	Konrad Steiner's sudden loneliness
Country of production	Switzerland
original language	Swiss German
Publishing year	1976
length	Switzerland: 102 minutes ; Germany: 100 minutes
Age rating	FSK 6
Rod
Director	Kurt Gloor
script	Kurt Gloor
production	Kurt Gloor
music	Peter Jacques
camera	Franz Rath
cut	Alexander Rupp
occupation
	Sigfrit Steiner : Konrad Steiner; Silvia Jost : Claudia Hefti; Helmut Förnbacher : Peter Steiner, Konrad's son; Hélène Friedli ; Yvonne, his wife; Ettore Cella : Carlo Reni; Alfred Rasser : Hans Sonderegger; Felix Klee : Fritz Trommer; Lilian Westphal : Ms. Stüssi, social worker; Mathias Gnädinger : Paramedic; Emil Steinberger : Official;

The Sudden Loneliness of Konrad Steiner is a Swiss feature film from 1976 by Kurt Gloor , who made his feature film debut here. Sigfrit Steiner took over the title role .

action

The shoemaker Konrad Steiner suddenly loses his wife when she dies of a stroke . In order to combat his emerging loneliness, the 75-year-old takes refuge in his work. One day he is told that the house in which he has his apartment and workshop will be demolished. Steiner thus loses his livelihood and threatens to become homeless. Steiner seems in the end, he steadfastly refuses to go to the old people's home, where they want to deport him ex officio.

At this moment a solution to his problem seems to be opening up. The social welfare office becomes aware of Steiner and sends the young social worker Claudia Hefti to take care of him. The young woman is full of compassion and after a long time gives the old man the feeling of being a valuable member of society again. The old man and the young woman quickly begin to trust each other. An official relationship gives rise to more and more moments of cautious, touching familiarity, and Steiner begins to fall in love with his “savior”. It gives him back the lost strength, and the old man now fights vigorously against his "deportation" to the old people's home. The closeness of the two soon becomes their undoing: Claudia is withdrawn from the case by her superiors.

Production notes

Konrad Steiner's sudden loneliness was first presented at the 1976 Berlinale on June 25, 1976. The German mass start was on October 28, 1977.

The cabaret and humorist Emil Steinberger , who was also very popular in Germany in the 1970s, can be seen briefly in a supporting role.

Reviews

In the program preview of the SRF it says: "" The old person is a cultural asset. A society without old people is like a person without a memory. " This saying by Ermanno Tondi was used by director Kurt Gloor as the motto for his first feature film "The sudden loneliness of Konrad Steiner". He combined the problem of old age with the disappearance of small businesses in the cities and condensed them into an impressive, heart-touching film narrative. Kurt Gloor's work, which ties in with the tradition of old Swiss films, was co-produced by Swiss television. He wrote the story after extensive research in old people's and nursing homes, in old people's settlements and asylums and after many conversations with old people. In an interview he said: “For me, the figure of Konrad Steiner is not primarily an individualist, but an old person who is not ready to play the role that is expected of an old person, namely to make way for the younger and to be nice and quiet and content. ""

Kay Less wrote in Kurt Gloor's biography: "This film was a masterful, highly sensitive portrait of an old man - excellently performed by Sigfrit Steiner - who gets caught up in the grind of cold-tempered bureaucrats and is about to be deported to a retirement home."

The lexicon of international film stated: "Excellent first feature film in terms of milieu drawing and representation - an impressive description of the fate of old people, to whom bureaucratic social welfare can provide material security but no real home."

Web links

The sudden loneliness of Konrad Steiner at filmportal.de
The sudden loneliness of Konrad Steiner in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

^ The sudden loneliness of Konrad Steiner on sfr.ch
↑ The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 3. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 .
↑ The sudden loneliness of Konrad Steiner. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .

[1] The sudden loneliness of Konrad Steiner on sfr.ch

[2] The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 3. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 .

[3] The sudden loneliness of Konrad Steiner. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .