Fabian (film)
Fabian is a German feature film from 1979 based on the novel of the same name by Erich Kästner . Under the direction of wolf gremm plays Hanspeter Hallwachs the title role. The world premiere was on April 25, 1980.
action
Berlin in the late phase of the Weimar Republic : Jakob Fabian worked in a small advertising agency as a copywriter for a cigarette company. He is reasonably content with his life, even if he can barely survive financially, and lives carefree into the day. With his best friend Labude he regularly makes the Berlin nightlife unsafe. His new girlfriend Cornelia, who has just come to Berlin to make it big in film, is attractive. But one day the tide turns for the carefree young man: as a result of the economic crisis from 1929 onwards, Fabian's life begins to fall apart bit by bit.
First he loses his job, then Cornelia leaves immediately when she receives a tempting film offer from a producer. And finally Labude takes his own life because of a terrible mistake. The events pull the rug out from under Fabian's feet; as a result of this accumulation of personal catastrophes, he loses his footing in a generally restless time determined by the unemployed armies and fraying at the politically extremist fringes. Fabian tries to numb his misery by uninhibitedly enjoying himself. He visits dance halls, constantly gets drunk and goes to prostitutes. In doing so, he stumbles from one adventure to the next, always along the personal abyss.
His lack of aim and direction seems to be his undoing. Fabian decides to leave the 'Moloch' Berlin, which does not seem to be doing him well, and returns to his mother in the provinces, in his hometown. Here he seems to be gradually coming to rest. One day the refined moralist gets the chance to become a hero: But when he tries to save a little boy from drowning, he dies. Non-swimmer Fabian drowns while the boy can save himself on the bank.
Production notes
Erich Kästner had refused to release the film rights for Fabian during his lifetime .
The production costs of the film amounted to around DM 4.5 million (around € 2.3 million).
The shooting took place between June 5 and August 21, 1979 in Berlin , Obernkirchen and Stadthagen .
Jan Schlubach designed the film structures and Rainer Schaper provided the equipment . The costumes come from Siegbert Kammerer. Schlubach received the gold film tape for his performance in 1980 .
criticism
The lexicon of international film wrote: “With remarkable details, Gremms Film achieved neither the density nor the depth of the novel by Erich Kästner; it is largely a - not always stylish - portrayal of morals. "
At the premiere in 1980, the film magazine Cinema judged: "With this hapless odyssey through Berlin in the twenties, Wolf Gremm has every chance of establishing himself as a serious filmmaker". Their online presence sums up briefly and succinctly: "Bitter portrait of an 'indomitable'"
literature
- Alexandra Gaida-Steingaß: From book to film: Erich Kästner's Fabian - The story of a moralist . Verlag Accepta Kommunikation, Ebersbach an der Fils 2014, ISBN 978-3-9815651-0-2 .
Web links
- Fabian in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Fabian at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Cinema, No. 5 May 1980 (Issue 24), pp. 20-21
- ↑ Klaus Brüne (Red.): Lexikon des Internationale Films Volume 2, p. 943. Reinbek near Hamburg 1987.
- ↑ Fabian. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 31, 2017 .
- ↑ Fabian in cinema.de