Hilde (film)

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Movie
Original title Hilda
Country of production Germany
original language German , English
Publishing year 2009
length 137 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Kai Wessel
script Maria von Heland
production Judy Tossell ,
Jens Meurer
music Martin Todsharow
camera Hagen Bogdanski
cut Tina Friday
occupation

In the biographical feature film Hilde , Heike Makatsch plays the singer and actress Hildegard Knef (1925–2002). The German production from 2009 largely follows the artist's autobiography with the title Der schenkte Gaul .

action

In 1966 Hildegard Knef returned to Germany to give a concert in the Berlin Philharmonic . In Berlin she is received by journalists and autograph hunters at Tempelhof Airport . She prepares for the concert and thinks back on her life.

In 1943 she auditioned for an acting course with Else Bongers . She would like to go to Universum Film (UFA) in Babelsberg . Against the will of her mother Frieda, she begins studying and meets Ewald von Demandowsky . Demandowsky is Reichsfilmdramaturg and head of production at Tobis . Hilde starts an affair with Demandowsky and hopes for a first film role. Their hopes are dashed when Demandowsky is drafted into the Volkssturm shortly before the end of the war ; Hilde follows him disguised as a soldier. They are taken prisoner of war, from which Hilde will soon be released.

Back at home she meets the pianist Ricci, who persuades her to perform with him. Through Ricci, she met the theater director Boleslaw Barlog . It occupies them in one piece in the reopened Schlossparktheater . During this time, the Jewish film officer Kurt Hirsch, who came to Germany with the US troops, falls in love with the attractive young woman. In the audience of the premiere in the Schlossparktheater is the film producer Erich Pommer , who has returned to Berlin from exile. Pommer gives Hildegard Knef the lead role in the film The Murderers Are Among Us . During this premiere, Ewald von Demandowsky, who was sentenced to death, was executed by Soviet soldiers.

Hildegard Knef marries Kurt Hirsch and moves with him to Hollywood . There she received a seven-year contract with David O. Selznick . Except for test shots, however, nothing happens and she feels useless. When she was offered the leading role in Willi Forst's film Die Sünderin in Germany , she took it. With Pommers help, she can break out of the contract with Selznick and return to Germany. The sinner becomes a scandal in prudish post-war Germany due to a nude scene and makes Hildegard Knef a persona non grata . Her marriage to Kurt Hirsch fails when she decides to work on a film with Anatole Litvak instead of returning to America with her husband.

She finally started her international career without Kurt Hirsch. She plays alongside stars like Gregory Peck and has several years of success on Broadway with the musical Silk Stockings . During a stay in London, she met David Cameron . She seems happy with him. After her success on Broadway, she began another career as a singer. She goes into the studio and records songs in German for which she wrote the lyrics. When she was supposed to sing the concert in the Berlin Philharmonic in 1966, shortly before the performance she found out that Erich Pommer had died. She dedicates the concert to him.

Reviews

When it came to criticism, Hilde tended to be badly received. Even Heike Makatsch, who was rated as a ray of hope in some reviews, had to be accused of being quoted and her voice vulgar ( Der Spiegel ) despite all the effort , or she delivered the Knef quotes in a “pathetic but soulless tone of declamation “ ( Taz ). Other reviews pointed out that its presence was close to that of Knef, that it was the film's “powerhouse” and that it was a perfect, startling imitation. The world considered the mixed form between “Heike” and “Hilde”, a “Hilke”, to be the only attraction of the film.

But even they could not save the entire film, in the end it was boring, seemed rather conservative, was "largely tough" or a "tragedy" . He trusts the potential in Knef's life. “The film is busy instead of concentrating on its main character, and strives into the distance instead of creating closeness to Knef.” So it remains unclear what actually made Knef's personality and the fascination cannot be felt. You can hardly find out who Knef was, because the director is “shockingly unsatisfied. In contrast to his Knef picture, the Wikipedia entry on Hildegard Knef looks like a highly differentiated character study. “ The figure Knef leaves the first two thirds cold, said the film-dienst , it only becomes moving and empathic at the end. The Tagesspiegel accused the film of not having an attitude towards the portrayed personality. For example, it is controversial to what extent the war experiences in Knef's autobiography are true, "they seem hyperreal and at the same time strangely inconcrete." The film takes this view in the form of a hand-held camera placed close to the action. The unsuitable narrative structure was also criticized. The framework plot is “such a cheap bracket” , and the concentration on the rise of the Knef, whose ups and downs made her a star, take the power out of the material. In many cases, the critics stated that the film flipped through from one station to the next, and that this detailed check-off did not convey any gain in knowledge.

Awards

In 2010, Hilde was nominated for the German Film Prize in four categories (best mask, costumes, best production design, camera).

Review mirror

Mixed

  • Cinema No. 4/2009, p. 56, short review by Jochen Schütze: Hilde

Rather negative

  • film-dienst No. 6/2009, pp. 54–55, fd 39173, by Katharina Zeckau: Hilde
  • Der Tagesspiegel , February 14, 2009, p. 25, by Christian Schröder: Emancipation in the recording studio
  • Die Welt , February 14, 2009, p. 29, by Peter Zander: One and one, that makes two

negative

  • Der Spiegel , March 9, 2009, p. 151, short review not drawn: Cinema in a nutshell. Hilda
  • Der Standard , March 11, 2009, p. 10, short review by “irr”: Now the next phase of life, please!
  • taz , February 14, 2009, p. 32, by David Denk: An ascent without a fall

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Release certificate for Hilde . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2009 (PDF; test number: 117 055 K).
  2. a b c Der Spiegel : Cinema in a nutshell. Hilda . March 9, 2009, p. 151
  3. a b c David Denk: An ascent without a fall . In: taz , February 14, 2009, p. 32
  4. a b Jochen Schütze: Hilde . In: Cinema No. 4/2009, p. 56
  5. a b c d e Christian Schröder: Emancipation in the recording studio . In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 14, 2009, p. 25
  6. a b c d Peter Zander: One and one, that makes two . In: Die Welt , February 14, 2009, p. 29
  7. a b c d Katharina Zeckau: Hilde . In: film-dienst No. 6/2009, pp. 54–55, fd 39173
  8. a b c The standard : Now the next phase of life, please! , March 11, 2009, p. 10