Marlene (2000)
Marlene is a German feature film from 2000 . The film tells the life story of Marlene Dietrich and is largely based on the biography written by her daughter Maria Riva , but also contains fictional characters that were built into the plot for dramaturgical reasons.
action
Marlene Dietrich lives with her husband Rudolf Sieber and daughter Maria in Berlin in the 1920s. She is not very successful as an actress. When the famous director Josef von Sternberg comes to Potsdam to shoot the film The Blue Angel , Marlene also takes a camera test and is hired against the will of the main actor Emil Jannings von Sternberg.
Sternberg is enthusiastic about Dietrich and hires her even before the premiere of the film in the United States . After the premiere, where it is celebrated as a new discovery, it travels by train to Bremerhaven to travel by ship to the United States. During the filming of the Blue Angel , she fell in love with the aristocrat, who would later become Nazi careerist, Carl Seidlitz and repeatedly met him secretly. As she is now sitting on the train to Bremerhaven, the compartment door opens surprisingly: Carl Seidlitz accompanies her for a night of love to Bremerhaven, where she boards the ship to the States.
In the United States, Sternberg introduces them to Hollywood society. Her next film is to be directed with Gary Cooper . Cooper also succumbs to the charm of the Berliner, who, with Morocco, will finally become a world star. While Marlene enjoys her fame in Hollywood, the National Socialists take control in Germany . Marlene is fully committed to the Americans against Nazi Germany through series of performances with her chansons (especially known: Boys in the backroom, Lili Marleen ) in front of the troops.
When Marlene returned home with the US Army only after the end of the war , she had to find out from Carl's sister that her secret lover had recognized the unjust state of the Third Reich, entered the resistance and was shot dead shortly before the end of the war.
The frenetically celebrated final appearance shows Marlene in a skin-tight dress and a white fur stole , how she - until the end of her public appearances - emphasizes her anti-war stance with the song: Tell me where the flowers are . - Where did you go? The wind blows over graves ... when will one ever understand?
background
Marlene Dietrich's secret lover Carl Seidlitz is a fictional character who could be remotely based on the actor and friend Marlene Jean Gabin . The leitmotif for Marlene and Carl's love and Marlene's social commitment are the lines of poetry by Ferdinand von Freiligrath, quoted together: "... and love cherishes, and carries love, as long as another heart beats warmly towards you ..."
Most of the shooting took place in the studios of Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam , where Marlene Dietrich's career began with her first film The Blue Angel in 1929 and where she lived in the neighborhood of the villa colony in Neubabelsberg . In the central hall called Marlene-Dietrich-Halle on the studio grounds, numerous motifs from the film were recreated, for example the train compartments in the wagons during their travels or their villa in Los Angeles including the garden and swimming pool. Other locations were Berlin, Paris, Ardennes, Austria, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Salzburg, Gaschurn, Hamburg.
Reviews
“[...] it has definitely become a well-photographed, opulently furnished and largely lovingly made two-hour conversation in beautiful and sometimes atmospheric images. Katja Flint is a convincing main character: The resemblance to the real Dietrich is downright amazing in some scenes. "
“Based on the book by Marlene Dietrich's daughter Maria Riva, a superficial entertainment film was created that never succeeds in breathing life into the character of Marlene Dietrich and making the fascination of her appearance plausible. Above all, the dialogues, which are extremely bold under the pressure of the hectic episodic rush, and the woodcut-like direction, who are largely only interested in the appearance, stand in the way. "
"The actors in Marlene are first choice right down to the supporting roles and contribute to two very entertaining hours."
"At the Hollywood Film Festival in Los Angeles in August 2000 , Marlene was honored as 'Best Feature Film'."
Awards
- 2000: Hollywood Discovery Award at the Hollywood Film Festival
- 2000: Gilde Film Prize in silver
Web links
- Marlene in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Marlene at filmportal.de
- Marlene. In: prisma.de. prisma-Verlag , accessed on September 13, 2017 .
- Criticism in the film headquarters
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Marlene . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2012 (PDF; test number: 84 174 V).
- ↑ a b Bettina Grachtrup, dpa: Marlene Dietrich's life in the film - The rebirth of the divine. Rhein-Zeitung , September 24, 1999, accessed on May 25, 2017 .
- ↑ kinoweb: Marlene. kinoweb.de, accessed on May 25, 2017 .
- ↑ Marlene. In: filmportal.de . German Film Institute , accessed on September 13, 2017 .
- ↑ Michael Boldhaus: Marlene. In: cinemusic.de. April 15, 2000. Retrieved March 17, 2017 .
- ↑ Marlene. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 17, 2017 .
- ^ Frank Ehrlacher: Marlene (D, 2000). In: Film-Lexikon.com. July 7, 2005, accessed March 17, 2017 .