Half of life (film)

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Movie
Original title Half of life
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1985
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Herrmann Zschoche
script Herrmann Zschoche
Christa Kozik (scenario)
Gabriele Herzog (dramaturgy)
production Herbert Ehler
for DEFA , KAG "Johannisthal"
music Georg Katzer
camera Günter Jaeuthe
cut Monika Schindler
occupation

Half of Life is a GDR feature film about the life of the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin from 1985. It was made by DEFA Studio for Feature Films, Artistic Working Group (KAG) “Johannisthal”, directed by Herrmann Zschoche , who also wrote the screenplay wrote, produced.

The filmed material encompasses ten crucial years of the poet's life, which begin with his love for the married Susette Gontard and end with the admission of the 36-year-old to a Tübingen mental hospital on September 11, 1806 , from where he was named " incurable "was released. So Hölderlin was to spend 36 more years with more or less psychological impairments - in fact, "half of his life". At the same time, " Half of Life " is the title of one of Hölderlin's most famous poems. The film , shot based on the film scenario by Christa Kożik , had its world premiere on April 18, 1985 at the Berlin Kino International . On July 16, 1987 it was shown for the first time in the Federal Republic of Germany under the title Half of Life - Holderlin .

content

In 1796, Hölderlin became tutor to the wealthy banker Jakob Gontard in Frankfurt am Main . He falls in love at first sight with his wife Susette , who soon returns the feelings. When Jakob Gontard finds out about the affair, Hölderlin has to leave the “ Weißer Hirsch ” house . The couple continued to meet in secret until Susette ended the relationship in 1800; two years later she died of consumption .

In 1804, through the mediation of his friend Isaac von Sinclair, Hölderlin became court librarian in Homburg . He was showing more and more signs of psychosis and in 1806 he was admitted to a psychiatric institution.

Reviews

“Christa Kożik deliberately wanted to write a romantic love story, and Herrmann Zschoche managed the feat of staging it in exactly the same way without ever slipping into kitsch, which was dangerously obvious here. The social and political background is also at least hinted at. "

- Heinz Kersten : in Frankfurter Rundschau - Halber Hölderlin , August 6, 1985

“You should approach this film like music that describes a familiar situation with sounds, announces pain and sadness, that radiates an emotion that the listener has to concretize himself. Assuming and accepting this (...) Herrmann Zschoche (...) made a very beautiful, touching film. "

- Henryk Goldberg : in Junge Welt , 20./21. April 1985

“The love scenes intensify dramatically, in the tenderest soul vibrations as well as in the sensual intoxication of physical union. A romantic world of symbols conjured up in images of a suggestive optical opulence , to which nature and interiors contribute equally. "

- Helmut Ullrich : in Neue Zeit , April 23, 1985

Awards

Web links

swell

  1. see Filmportal.de