La nuit de la Saint-Sylvestre

With the 1921 'Scherben', director Lupu Pick made the first Kammerspielfilm - chamber film - a film in which a small ensemble of actors acts in a confined space. 'Scherben' made do with one intertitle. Three years later, 'Sylvester' - a film in the same genre - dispensed with them altogether.

It is one hour before midnight on New Year's Eve. In a town, the upcoming New Year's Eve is being celebrated in a lively atmosphere. We see hustle and bustle on the streets, in the ballroom of a fashionable hotel and in a pub. In the back room of the pub, the landlord's (Eugen Klöpfer) wife (Edith Posca) prepares the food and looks after her baby. The landlord's old mother (Frida Richard) appears at the door. It soon becomes clear that the two women do not get on well.

They briefly keep their mutual contempt in check for the sake of the landlord, but then it erupts with full force. The mother does not forgive the wife for taking her son away from her. The young woman asks her husband to throw his mother out. He does not. Now she wants to leave herself. He holds her back. A veritable tug-of-war ensues for the favour of the landlord, who is obviously overwhelmed.

As in 'Scherben', we witness a petty bourgeois tragedy that would normally remain hidden from us. In the earlier film, the events take place in a remote railway keeper's cottage in the deep snow, whereas in 'Sylvester' only thin walls separate the boisterous revellers from the tragic events. Monstrous things happen in our midst, but our lives go on unaffected.

This is emphasised by the parallel montage of New Year's Eve celebrations on the street, in the ballroom and in the pub with the events in the back room, that runs through the film. The universality of this statement is also attested to in 'Sylvester' by repeated shots of ocean waves that crash against the shore as a symbol of eternity in contrast to fleeting human events.

These stylistic devices are certainly not subtle, but they are ennobled by the masterful camerawork in the exterior shots (Guido Seeber), the magnificent buildings (Klaus Richter) and the performance of the main actors. The performance of Edith Posca, the director's wife who already played the female lead in 'Scherben', deserves special mention.

'Sylvester' is in the tradition of 19th century bourgeois realism with its often pessimistic view of human affairs within the confines of convention. However, the contrast between the tragic events and the exuberant celebrations allows the audience to decide for themselves whether the glass is half full or half empty.

Lupu Pick's "Sylvester" is the perfect example of "Kammerspiele", but , since this German is afraid that you don't speak the most eloquent of languages but only a primitive and ordinary one, I will tell you that in ,your rough tongue, that word means "intimate theater". Kammerspiele films are set in closed spaces, Teutonic tales of ordinary lives but with strong Expressionist influences.

This remarkable film is by the director Lupu Pick, who was Rumanian by birth but German by adoption, it is, together with "Scherben" (1921), a great and fascinating film for it's design, screenplay and perfect film direction.

The film is set in a bar on New Year's Eve. We see plenty of Germans swilling beer nonstop (such is the custom among my middle class countrymen). The owner of the bar and his wife await the arrival of his mother for a little celebration together.

Nevertheless it will not take much time for tension to build between the two women (you know, even non aristocratic German women are hard natured), giving rise finally to an atmosphere of mistrust and hostility. The man is caught in the middle and is finally pushed to the brink.

As this German count said before, this is a very distinguished "Kammerspiele" film and takes place mostly on one set, thus focusing the attention of the audience on the actors' performances. The actors in "Sylvester" are great; they create vivid human portraits full of the contradictions and jealousies of people who experience joy and tragedy in an unexpected way.

Herr Pick has put together, in an elegant and accurate way, the familiar atmosphere of New Year's celebrations with simultaneous and different scenes of the same night: he cuts between the bar with its happy clients and the crowded main street with plenty of different types of people celebrating in their own way. Pick contrasts the poor people and their humble gatherings on the street with the hullabaloo of the private and elegant dance parties held by the newly rich (don't be tricked, these are sickly imitations of the genuine and aristocratic ones), but in the midst of this supposed joyousness, Pick gives us a mosaic of turmoil and tragedy just under the surface.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must attend another exciting New Year's Eve soiree, because for us, German aristocrats, each night of the year is New Year's Eve.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien