Il perduto amore

I went to see this at the cinema in Vienna, fully expecting to hate it...after all it was directed by one of cinematic history's all-time villains, Veit Harlan, who directed the notoriously antisemitic drama Jud Suss.

And yet...I found myself drawn into the story in spite of myself, and in spite of the fact that Kristina Soderbaum (Harlan's wife) lacks charisma, a charge which can't be laid at the door of her co-star, Carl Raddatz, who is one of those ugly-but-sexy men, and has a distinct screen presence.

The reason? The film is so poetic, so haunting, that even though its melodramatic tale is much-ado-about-nothing in some ways, it burrows beneath your defences. It is' at times beautiful to look at, and the score is often overpoweringly evocative. Proof that in artistic terms at least, even villains are not necessarily two-dimensional.

A woman's marriage to a wealthy landowner is threatened when her childhood sweetheart, now a famous musician, returns after a long absence. Loosely based on Theodor Storm's novella, this melodrama was set in rural North Germany. Directed by the notorious `Jud Süß'- director Veit Harlan and featuring his wife Kristina Söderbaum in the female lead, this film offers some stunning colour photography.

This film has not aged well. It's a melodrama with capital M, and the director isn't ashamed of using everything in his arsenal not to let us forget that. The acting is pregnant with tears, the dialog is highly noble without ever being more than superfluous, and everything is through-scored with an academic, predictable, serious and dignified symphonic score, which flows over the spectators like syrup over flies. The film might work, if the protagonists were more sympathetic. They are, however, not: Karl Raddatz is incredibly ugly, even though he is supposed to be the handsome hero. Kristina Söderbaum only has one or two emotions to display, and to be quite honest, being a healthy woman who looks as gentle as a pork pie, she really shouldn't have been cast in all these over-suffering roles. But then, her husband knew better. The colour photography is very good, and some of the cast - like pretty Käthe Dyckhoff who enjoyed a brief career during the war - are likable.

I have only seen this movie once, years ago, but since then I have been watching out for it to be shown again on television, because I think it's one of Germany's best dramas ever made. The characters are so emotional and the portrayal of their feelings is so refined, this picture is surely ripe for a revival. I even think it's better than Storm's novel itself!