Elective Affinities (1974)

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Movie
Original title Elective affinities
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1974
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Siegfried Kühn
script Christel Graef
production DEFA , KAG "Red Circle"
music Karl-Ernst Sasse
camera Claus Neumann
cut Renate Bade
Helga Krause
occupation
synchronization

Elective Affinities is a German literary film adaptation of DEFA by Siegfried Kühn from 1974. It is based on the novel Die Wahlverwandschaften by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe .

action

The time of the Napoleonic Wars : Shortly after their second marriage, Charlotte and Eduard retired to a remote country house, where they want to test whether they can both be self-sufficient. While Charlotte dreams of days and nights together and both of them set up a love nest in a "moss house", Eduard soon gets tired of living together. He convinces Charlotte to bring his friend, the captain, to the property. In addition, Charlotte's foster daughter Ottilie is to come to the three of them in the country.

Four of you experience some quiet summer days. Eduard, however, feels more and more drawn to young Ottilie, while Charlotte spends her time with the captain. Together the four decide to have a pleasure house built on the property, but the community breaks up during the construction. Eduard confesses his love for Ottilie, while Charlotte does not want to choose the captain. When the captain has left, Eduard moves out of the property - also to be able to resist Ottilie. He wants a divorce from Charlotte, who is expecting a child from him. Eduard reports resignedly for military service. He either wants to fall or to be able to finally decide in favor of Ottilie after the end of the war.

Charlotte gives birth to the child. The months go by and Ottilie is looking after the baby not far from the lake when Eduard returns. Ottilie rushes to meet him and they both spend the afternoon together in love until Ottilie remembers the baby they left behind. It can only be recovered from the lake dead. Ottilie falls into a deep faint. Charlotte, however, also sees her own adherence to Eduard as one of the reasons her child perished. She agrees to divorce Eduard. Ottilie, however, does not want to win Eduard in this way and hurries away. She cannot be found, Eduard falls into lethargy. Charlotte begins to rearrange the property. However, she cannot lift a large cupboard over a threshold on her own and struggles in vain on her own until the end.

production

Rossewitz Castle, in the film the country house of Charlotte and Eduard

Elective Affinities was filmed from 1973 to 1974. The location of a series of scenes was the vacant Rossewitz manor near Güstrow . A final scene in which Eduard Ottilie searches in a church and collapses in front of the altar was created in the village church of Gessin . The film premiered on August 27, 1974 in the Weimar “Filmtheater des Friedens”.

Dieter "Machine" Birr from the Puhdys can be seen in a supporting role as a bricklayer.

synchronization

role actor Voice actor
Charlotte Beata Tyszkiewicz Lissy Tempelhof
Ottilie Magda Vášáryová Katharina Thalbach

criticism

Contemporary critics called the film the director's most artistically closed, "although it challenged contradiction and in many parts was not entirely mastered". Other critics complained that the film hides the historical background of the plot and so “the anti-social island situation” of the protagonists is only presented for their own sake.

The Lexicon of International Films wrote: “In the historical setting and in the dialogue, the film misses the problem of the original; Shortening and streamlining sometimes make the process incomprehensible. What Goethe portrays as the clash of moral and natural law appears in the film as a questioning of norms, morals and ethics of civil marriage. Still a remarkable contribution for literature lovers. "

Other critics found that the director Siegfried Kühn found "no convincing cinematic thought and narrative structure" in the elective affinities .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Margit Voss: Boldly daring - only half won . In: Filmspiegel , No. 20, 1974, p. 20.
  2. ↑ Heinz Kersten: Goethe as a divorce lawyer . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , October 8, 1974.
  3. ↑ Elective affinities. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 4, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ^ Ralf Schenk (Red.), Filmmuseum Potsdam (Hrsg.): The second life of the film city Babelsberg. DEFA feature films 1946–1992 . Henschel, Berlin 1994, p. 227.