Beloved Milena
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Beloved Milena |
| Original title | Milena |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1991 |
| length | 139 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Véra Belmont |
| script | Véra Belmont based on the novel by Jana Cerna |
| music | Jean-Marie Sénia |
| camera | Dietrich Lohmann |
| cut |
Jean Beaudoin Martine Giordano Yves Langlois Barbara Zittwitz |
| occupation | |
| |
Beloved Milena is a biopic about the Czech publicist Milena Jesenská (1896–1944). Véra Belmont directed the international co-production, which mainly takes place in Prague and Vienna. The plot follows the events in Jesenská's life, shows her work as a journalist, her two marriages and her relationship with Franz Kafka , as well as her political activities.
action
Prague , 1920: Milena Jesenská's father wants her to follow in his footsteps and become one of the first women doctors in Czechoslovakia. But she wants to be a writer. She travels to Vienna with the music critic Ernst Pollak, of Jewish origin, and begins to correspond with Franz Kafka. Then she left Pollak and returned to her father in Prague and translated Kafka. As a journalist, she followed the Ruhr workers' strike in 1923 and met the communist architect Jaromir. They get married and have a daughter. Milena writes for a Marxist newspaper until her husband emigrates to the Soviet Union. She witnessed the rise of National Socialism in the years before the Second World War and the violent takeover of power by the Germans in her home country. Eventually she is arrested by the Secret State Police and dies in a concentration camp.
criticism
The French criticism complained that the film is too academic, more interesting than passionate, without feelings and authenticity. Milena's motivation and driving force are never really understandable. One of the reasons for this is that the story is too close to the biography. At the same time, director Belmont simplifies the treatment of contemporary history and the ideologies of the time. However, Milena Jesenská's personality was seen to be drawn with heart and intelligence. Her actress, Valérie Kaprisky , was known for years for superficial pull-out roles and surprised with an exact, sensitive play; she gives the figure dazzling beauty and spiritual depth.
The Fischer Film Almanach found the actually exciting life of Jesenská made bland by "flat images and unimaginative dialogues" , and the leading actress offers at best well-tended boredom.
literature
Reviews in France:
- Positif No. 361, March 1991 (devastating criticism)
- Revue du cinéma No. 467, January 1991 (mixed reviews, criticized length and lack of passion, but praised sensitive actors)
German language reviews:
- Fischer Film Almanach 1992 (negative judgment)
Web links
- Beloved Milena in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Positif No. 361, March 1991, Paris, pp. 70-71; Revue du cinéma, No. 467, January 1991, Paris, p. 39
- ↑ Serroy, Jean Entre deux siècles. 20 ans de cinéma contemporain. Editions da La Martinière, Paris 2006, ISBN 2-7324-3420-5 , p. 124; Positif, March 1991
- ^ Revue du cinéma, January 1991; Serroy 2006, p. 124
- ^ Fischer Film Almanach 1992, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-596-11198-6 , p. 142