Liebelei

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, in Vienna, Dragoon Lieutenant Fritz Lobheimer (Wolfgang Liebeneiner) and Second Lieutenant Theo Kaiser (Carl Esmond) are at the opera when a girl accidentally drops her opera glass. Fritz has a love affair with Baroness von Aggersdorf (Olga Tschechowa) and leaves the opera house to encounter her. Her suspicious husband, Baron von Aggersdorf (Gustaf Gründgens), leaves the opera earlier expecting to catch his wife with her lover but is unsuccessful. Lt. Kaise meets the two girls, Mitzi Schlager (Luisa Ullrich) and Christine Weiring (Magda Schneider), looking for the glass and invites them to go to a cafeteria. Meanwhile, Fritz gives his key to the Baroness and flees from her house. He meets the trio at the cafeteria and while Theo and Mitzi go to his apartment, Fritz walks Christine home. Theo schedules a double date and soon Fritz and Christine fall in love with each other, and Fritz looks for Baroness von Aggersdorf to end their affair. However, the military Graf von Aggersdorf (Paul Otto) tells his brother, Baron von Aggersdorf, the rumors about the relationship of Fritz and his wife. He finds her key and challenges Fritz to a duel, with tragic consequences.

"Liebelei", a.k.a. "Playing at Love" (1933) is a very sad romance by Max Ophüls. The plot is heartbreaking, kind of Romeu & Juliet, about the love of Christine Weiring and Lt. Fritz Lobheimer in the beginning of the last century. In 1958, this romance was remade with the title of "Christine" and Alain Delon in his first lead role and the sweet and lovely Romy Schneider as his romantic pair. Both classy movies are highly recommended. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Redenção" ("Redemption")

I caught this film years back at the Cinematheque in Paris and was finally able to chase down a copy. This film works beautifully on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin or what to include. It is a class study in turn-of-the-century Vienna with a love affair that transcends some but not all of the social barriers. There are misunderstandings a la Schnitzler in the rigid system and the now absurd dueling scene with its "male honor" at stake. But the camera is constantly on the prowl, weaving in and out and omitting at times as much as it shows, Ophuls visual addition. The sleigh-ride sequence is exactly as I remembered it and justifiably famous. My copy is missing all the Jewish credits at the beginning.

Curtis Stotlar

The camera of Franz Planer follows the protagonists in long tracking shots, observes precisely the development of an affection and later deep love between Fritz (Wolfgang Liebeneiner) and Christine (Magda Schneider) during the nightly walk through the sleeping city and their endless swings of waltzing through the empty coffee bar. It is also great how Ophüls exemplarily trusts in the viewer's imagination to make things visible. The couple has forgotten the world around them, being only close together, overwhelmed by the feelings, which suddenly arise in them. The slow waltz resembles a soft hug, but the melancholy in this dance is perceptible and especially Fritz, who has a secret tête-à-tête with a bored baroness, seems to fear, that the love for Christine might not have a happy ending.

And last but not least some words about Gustaf Gründgens who plays the cheated baron: In the scenes, he is acting mainly only with looks, with stringent, frigid looks, that whoosh across the room like bullets. The precision of his performance is masterful and probably the best in this film.

Some films cannot be sufficiently qualified by superlatives, and this superb, tranquil, poetic masterpiece is one of them. This film is not just to be watched and enjoyed, but to be felt with all the senses.

Without ever becoming sentimental it tells a very moving love story, but there is a deeper meaning in it (of course already conceived by Arthur Schitzler). We see an artificial Vienna and rigid social rules, but what really is shown is a universal and timeless theme: misplaced (male) honour.

This "misplaced honour" is shown through various male characters, but the most devilish of them is Gustaf Gründgens (absolutely brilliant): was there ever a cigarette smoked as by Gründgens, concentrating all his anger and hate in his smoking. And here we have only one example of Ophüls' idea of letting the image speak: not by dialogue alone (sometimes unintelligible, but this is on purpose!), but by body and camera movement, lightning, editing, sets, the meaning of a scene is told.

This film is superb on all levels, but this is not the place to analyze further (and there are people who are much more capable to do that than I am). I just want to refer to the final sequence (starting with Beethoven's 5th): see how Ophüls, just by perfectly arranging Ullrich, Eichberger and Hörbiger opposite Schneider, gets an image that shows emotional desolation: the party is over, life is over (one must have seen the film to understand this remark) . This culminates in the long, extreme close up of Magda Schneider realizing and trying to come to terms with what has happened; one must have a heart of stone not to get tears into one's eyes or at least a lump in the throat, when seeing this scene. This scene was her moment of triumph; was she ever again as outstanding as in this scene?

Liebelei premiered after the Nazi take-over; it was banned, then - by popular demand - quickly showing was allowed again but only after the names of the jewish contributors were removed. It amazes to know that in 1945 it was banned by the Allies.

This is truly an excellent film, and it's production values totally belie the date of release.

If you like it, take time out to read the play Liebelei by Arthur Schnitzler. The guy above me misspelled his name, so you won't find it by searching that way! I think it's been translated into English as 'Flirtations'. You will discover that this is one of the earliest examples of a good story being taken (granted these days it's done by Hollywood) and mutated to fit the dramatic formula. For instance, our two protagonists are not cavalry officers, but members of the 'fin de siecle' bourgeois class who have bought they're way in as reserves at the officer level, they only train 3 or 4 times a year. The love story portrayed in the film is not in the book in the same way, and we never meet the woman Fritz is having an affair with, we don't even learn her name.

Still, this is a good film worth watching if you have the time to seek it out.