Sisters or The Balance of Happiness
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Sisters or The Balance of Happiness |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1979 |
| length | 95 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Margarethe von Trotta |
| script | Margarethe von Trotta based on Wolfgang Bächler's "Dream Protocols " |
| production | Eberhard Junkersdorf |
| music |
Konstantin Wecker Henry Purcell |
| camera | Franz Rath |
| cut | Annette Dorn |
| occupation | |
| |
Schwestern oder Die Balance des Glücks is a German feature film by Margarethe von Trotta from 1979. The two title roles are played by Jutta Lampe and Gudrun Gabriel , with Jessica Früh taking on another leading role .
action
Maria and Anna Sundermann are the two sisters who are completely different in their nature and goals. Maria, the much older of the two, is determined and wants to aim high in her job as Mr. Münzinger's chief secretary. Her little sister Anna, on the other hand, seems more fragile and introverted, she studies and is still full of doubts. Maria, who supports Anna but also pushes and tries to influence her being, does not understand Anna's permanent self-doubts and fears. Anna's rebellions against the dominance of her big sister are hardly noticeable: she broods and threatens to quit her studies, takes pills and writes a diary about everything that concerns her deep inside. One day Anna can no longer withstand this internal pressure, which threatens to become overwhelming: After Maria threatens to distance herself emotionally from Anna through her love for Maurice, Münziger's son, Anna, who fears, decides to accept Maria's love Maurice loses her footing in her life, takes the ultimate drastic step and takes her own life.
After a brief moment of shock, Maria takes the initiative again and, as one is used to from her, takes over the reins of action. She "replaces" her deceased sister and hires the young Miriam Grau as a shorthand typist at her side. But her attempt to make Miriam a second, a new Anna, fails. Must fail. Because the balance of happiness, as the title suggests, has been destroyed by Anna's death, although in Maria’s way of daring a new beginning, there is also an opportunity that will not be found in Miriam. This young woman, who discovered Anna's diary and recognized the dangerous, even impossible role she should be pushed into, frees herself from this emotional construct in which she could never have assumed more than a substitute function. Maria is left alone. Now she confesses to her feelings and for the first time begins to grieve and to change herself (instead of others, as before). Only now does Maria really begin to free herself.
Production notes
Sisters or The Balance of Happiness was created between March 5 and April 21, 1979 in Hamburg and Berlin. The premiere took place on September 18, 1979 as part of the Hamburg Film Festival, the mass start was three days later. The television first broadcast took place on December 16, 1981 on ARD , which had co-produced the film with WDR .
Winfried Hennig took care of the equipment, Ingrid Zoré designed the costumes.
Awards
- Jutta Lampe received the film tape in gold
- Margarethe von Trotta received the Grand Prize at the International Women's Film Festival in Créteil
Reviews
“Margarethe von Trotta called her latest film ... an interior story. So the plot of the film is essentially focused on the relationships between the three women, drawing a precise picture of their feelings and moods. Avoiding anything striking, the director tells the story of Mary, Anna and Miriam - who in their postures also represent the three different possibilities of a single person. By making their state of mind the object of the action, the film not only provides information about them, but at the same time outlines the depressing image of a society whose primary concern is not the humanization of people. It is only through the destruction of her relationships that Maria discovers the possibilities of her own person. Only grief opens up the possibility of change for her. The consequence of the story is not determined by resignation, but by hope that conditions can be changed. The film corresponds with the topicalities of this society, puts the grief over the lost possibilities aside with the draft of the new. But this moment of hope is formulated very cautiously. Margarethe von Trotta: "Hope results from the realization that you have to find your way back to yourself". "
“Thematically noteworthy emancipation drama, which, despite convincing actresses, appears stiff, template-like and desperately-anxious in its implementation. The message is communicated primarily through the dialogues; the exquisitely arranged emotional and personal constellation has a thesis-like effect. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ellen Esser in an interview with Manuela Heim: “Too old? That's not how creative people think ” . In: The daily newspaper: taz . June 9, 2018, ISSN 0931-9085 , p. 46 ( taz.de [accessed June 11, 2018]).
- ↑ Sisters or The Balance of Happiness in the Lexicon of International Films