In this documentary by Luzia SCHMID, German actress Hildegard KNEF (1925-2002) speaks to us, a later-born audience. It's astonishing how many interviews KNEF gave and the questions she was asked (by men). She was not only interviewed by her acting colleague Joachim FUCHSBERGER, but was even able to share details from her book THE GIFT HORSE with David FROST in America. The German-speaking world certainly doesn't have that many megastars, especially not ones that resonate with an international audience. And then there are the diva's many diverse careers: As a film actress, Broadway star, chanson singer, and even as a bestselling author, KNEF knew how to inspire audiences.
In this documentary, you also hear many of her beautiful songs, which still hold their own today. You learn how successful her books THE GIFT HORSE and THE JUDGMENT were in the USA. Excerpts from her films, however, are few and far between and tend to illustrate the ups and downs of her acting career. Her six-second nude appearance in DIE SÜNDERIN (1951) marked her scandalous new beginning in German-language film after her three-year involuntary "vacation" in Hollywood. Successful producer David O. Selznick had essentially bought her off the market with an exclusive contract in order to weaken the surprisingly successful West German film competition. Her performance alongside Oskar Werner in DECISION BEFORE DAWN (1952) marked her subsequent international breakthrough as the film star "Hildegarde NEFF." After her tremendous success as Ninotchka in the musical SILK STOCKINGS, Knef returned to Berlin, only to suffer a horrific shipwreck in the unsuccessful UFA melodrama MADELEINE UND DER LEGIONÄR (1958). Twenty years later, she played an elderly Hollywood legend for Billy Wilder in FEDORA (1978). By then, Knef had already undergone several cancer surgeries.
The honest accounts by Christina Palastanga (daughter from her second marriage to actor David Cameron) and Paul von Schell (Knef's third husband) are very well done. Both provide unsparing insights into the glamorous, sometimes dark, life of a megastar. It becomes very clear that after her numerous illnesses, Hildegard Knef developed a drug addiction that was certainly not easy to bear.
A very worthwhile film about a German-speaking diva who is still very remarkable today. As a child of the 1980s, she always seemed to me like an indestructible figure from the past, who also had some very clever things to say during her numerous talk show appearances. I particularly admired her small appearance in a 1984 episode of the American CBS spy series SCARECROW AND MRS. KING and her guest appearance as Fräulein Schneider in the 1987 Berlin production of CABARET. She was a truly unique presence, one that continued to fascinate even in the later years of her career.
