À qui la faute?

Nju (Elisabeth Bergner) is married, has a child and lives in relative luxury. But Nju is not happy. Her overweight bourgeois husband (Emil Jannings) is taking her for granted, even though he had once promised to cherish and adore her forever. When she encounters a good-looking writer (Conrad Veidt), Nju is smitten. When her husband becomes aware of their mutual attraction he flies into a jealous rage and tries to shoot his rival. Now Nju leaves him and moves in with her lover.

In 1924, Elisabeth Bergner was the celebrated star of the Max Reinhardt stages in Berlin, having already thrilled audiences in Zurich, Munich and Vienna with her idiosyncratic and magnetic stage presence. The combination of her small, boyish figure and highly expressive acting made her shine in a wide variety of roles. So it was no wonder that the young director Paul Czinner cast her in the leading role of his film 'Husbands and Lovers.

The film was a success. Critic Arthur Eloesser wrote: 'Between two skills and certainties (meaning Jannings and Veidt), she was the sensation, a little soul, a little flame, flickering and extinguishing as if before the first gust of wind. She is a miracle, a plea, a supplication'. Elisabeth Bergner knew how to hold her own between two established titans of stage and film: Emil Jannings and Conrad Veidt. The fact that she succeeds and that she makes 'Nju' an Elisabeth Bergner film despite this competition is testament to the quality of her acting and her self-confidence. This is the film's strength, but also its potential weakness. Because if the charms of the leading actress don't resonate with viewers, the premise of 'Nju' doesn't work, namely that all men, even men of the world like Jannings and Veidt, must fall for this uniquely attractive woman.

Paul Czinner and Elisabeth Bergner married and he remained her film director, much to the annoyance of film critics, who thought he cramped her style too much. But together the couple switched from silent to sound film and emigrated to Great Britain in 1933 and later to the USA.

'Husbands and Lovers is first and foremost a film for fans of Elisabeth Bergner (and those who wish to become fans). If you are receptive to the charms of this unique actress, the film works. Otherwise, of course, there are also the solid character studies by Jannings and Veidt, who give routine performances here.

Elisabeth Bergner is married to Emil Jannings. One day she spots poet Conrad Veidt in the street and is immediately captivated by his hypnotic eyes. All three of them meet at a party, and Veidt calls next day to make smarmy remarks to Jannings. Jannings orders that he not be permitted to return. Veidt shows up anyway, and Jannings gets violent. This convinces Miss Bergner that no one is safe around him, so she goes to live with Veidt, leaving her daughter with Jannings.

It's not just that Veidt is at his most obnoxious, nor that Jannings is, of course, in love with yet another woman who leaves him. He was good at playing these essentially clueless men who were destroyed by forces out side his control, whether it be Faust or a hotel doorman. So long as the public paid to see him in those roles, he would continue to play them. That is, after all, the essence of being a star: people come to see you, knowing what they'll get in advance.

What annoyed me about this movie is that Miss Bergner appears to be insane and no one notices it. I am not sure whether the term "manic-depressive" was in common use in 1920s Vienna, but I have no doubt that people understood that some people were sometimes very gay, and should not make decisions when they were, and sometimes very sad and could not.

Perhaps that is why the German title terms her a "misunderstood woman." Or perhaps it is a matter of Miss Bergner not being able to play the role. Her husband and director, Paul Czinner, spent most of his career striving to make her a star. While she did play leading roles for him, I don't find her particularly capable as an actress. I don't find her particularly interesting here, and while Jannings could go nuts over any woman and be convincing, Veidt's fascination with her seems less understandable. It seems strange that out of six movies in which the two finest German actors of the era appeared together -- two of which are lost -- that they should compete over Miss Bergner.

Well, that's what the script and director told them to do.