Story of A Young Couple

Last updated
Story of A Young Couple
Directed by Kurt Maetzig
Produced byAlexander Lösche
Written by Bodo Uhse
StarringYvonne Merin, Hans-Peter Thielen
Music byWilhelm Neef
CinematographyKarl Plintzner
Edited byLena Neumann
Distributed by Progress Film
Release date
18 January 1952
Running time
104 minutes
Country East Germany
Language German

Story of A Young Couple (German : Roman einer jungen Ehe) [1] is an East German film, directed by Kurt Maetzig. It was released in 1952.

Contents

Plot

Agnes and Jochen are two young actors who meet and fall in love while appearing in a Berlin production of Nathan the Wise . After the two marry, Agnes is drawn to the communist cause, and begins acting in East German films, which her husband views as sheer propaganda, especially when she recites a poem praising Stalin. When Jochen decides to accept a role in Les Mains Sales , his wife cannot bring herself to follow him, viewing the play as seditious. They decide to divorce. Jochen becomes a celebrated star in the West, but slowly realizes that not all is well: he sees that former influential Nazis are rehabilitated. After witnessing an anti-war demonstration brutally dispersed by the police, he arrives in the divorce court and asks Agnes to reconcile with him. The two reunite and move to East Berlin.

Cast

Production

The script was written by Maetzig and author Bodo Uhse. In part, Story of A Young Couple was intended as a response to Jean-Paul Sartre's anti-communist play Dirty Hands , which was also mentioned in the plot. [2] Assistant-director Siegfried Hartmann told an interviewer that the film was made when the Cold War turned into a grim reality, and when Joseph Stalin's cult of personality was at its height, with both those factors heavily influencing the picture. [3] Kurt Maetzig told that "in this film... we attempted to tackle a problem facing every honest German today... namely, the division of our fatherland and the prospects for reunion". [4]

Reception

On 22 January 1952, a Berliner Zeitung columnist wrote that "the film makes us sit up and take notice – and we are pleased to see a film with such sound, humane groundwork". [5] The West German Der Spiegel commented that "Maetzig's work was too 'progressive' even for the party hard-liners" and quoted DEFA official Albert Wilkening who disapproved of the picture, saying that "unfortunately, there is still much rigidity in our film industry". [4]

Seán Allan and John Sandford wrote that the film presented a confrontation between the morally superior Socialist system in East Germany and the barely de-nazified, corrupt one of West Germany, in a manner common in pictures from the Democratic Republic. [6] Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor described Story of A Young Couple as "painfully true to the party line"; [7] according to Alexander Stephan, it also contained anti-American rhetoric typical to the time. [8] Anke Pinkert characterized the picture as one of DEFA's most important "woman films", in which the figure of an emancipated female was the main driver of the plot and played an important role in bringing about social change. [9] John Griffith Urang noted that rather than have love transcend politics, as was the case in Maetzig's Marriage in the Shadows , Story of A Young Couple had the protagonists' romantic relations depend on their world view. [10] In Orphans of the East (Indiana UP, 2015), Constantin Parvulescu shows how the film helps reinterpreting socialist-realist poetics and their relationship to pre-World War II avant-garde.

Related Research Articles

<i>Ernst Thälmann</i> (film) 1954 film by Kurt Maetzig

Ernst Thälmann is an East German film in two parts about the life of Ernst Thälmann, leader of the Communist Party of Germany during much of the Weimar Republic, directed by Kurt Maetzig and starring Günther Simon in the title role. The first part, Ernst Thälmann - Sohn seiner Klasse, was released in 1954. It was followed by the 1955 sequel. Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse.

Kurt Maetzig film director

Kurt Maetzig was a German film director who had a significant effect on the film industry in East Germany. He was one of the most respected filmmakers of the GDR. After his retirement he lived in Wildkuhl, Mecklenburg, and had three children.

<i>The Astronauts</i> book

The Astronauts is the first science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem published as a book, in 1951.

Girls in Gingham —sometimes called Beaverskin—is a 1949 German drama film directed by Kurt Maetzig.

Carbide and Sorrel is a 1963 East German comedy film directed by Frank Beyer and starring Erwin Geschonneck.

<i>Five Cartridges</i> 1960 film by Frank Beyer

Five Cartridges is a 1960 East German film directed by Frank Beyer and starring Erwin Geschonneck, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Manfred Krug.

<i>The Adventures of Werner Holt</i> (film) 1965 East German drama film directed by Joachim Kunert

The Adventures of Werner Holt is a 1965 East German drama film directed by Joachim Kunert.

Berlin im Aufbau is an East German documentary film directed by Kurt Maetzig, one of East Germany's most respected film-makers, between 1945 and 1946. It was a prominent 22 minute documentary, released in 1946 and produced by the DEFA film company. Maetzig was assisted in the assembly of the film by Marion Keller, who had also scripted and organized several other propaganda films of the late 1940s.

<i>Marriage in the Shadows</i> 1947 film

Ehe im Schatten is an East German film melodrama. Directed by Kurt Maetzig, it was released in 1947 by DEFA. The film was described as an "attempt to confront the German people about the morals of the past", being the first film to confront the people about the persecution of the Jews and the atrocities conducted during World War II.

<i>The Benthin Family</i> 1950 film

Familie Benthin is an East German film. It was released in 1950.

Der Rat der Götter is an East German black-and-white film, directed by Kurt Maetzig. It was released in 1950.

<i>A Berlin Romance</i> 1956 film by Gerhard Klein

A Berlin Romance is a 1956 East German neo-realist romantic drama film about youth urban life in the divided city of Berlin, directed by Gerhard Klein. It was produced by the DEFA film company. It stars Annekathrin Bürger, Ulrich Thein and Uwe-Jens Pape. The script was written by Wolfgang Kohlhaase with a score composed by Günter Klück. The film was the second collaboration between Klein and Kohlhaase; the first was Alarm in the Circus, released in 1954 and third came in 1957 with Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser. These films were noted for their strong criticism of consumer culture in Berlin after World War II and the Americanization of the capital and are amongst DEFA's best known films.

Schlösser und Katen is an East German black-and-white film, directed by Kurt Maetzig. It was released in 1957.

Don't Forget My Little Traudel is an East German comedy film, directed by Kurt Maetzig. It was released in 1957.

<i>The Sailors Song</i> 1958 film

The Sailor's Song is an East German black-and-white film directed by Kurt Maetzig and Günter Reisch. It was released in 1958.

An Old Love is an East German black-and-white film, directed by Frank Beyer. It was released in 1959.

<i>The Rabbit Is Me</i> 1965 East German dramatic film

The Rabbit Is Me is an East German dramatic film directed by Kurt Maetzig. It was filmed in 1965, and based on the novel by Manfred Bieler.

September Love is an East German film directed by Kurt Maetzig. It was released in 1961.

At A French Fireside is an East German film directed by Kurt Maetzig. It was released in 1963.

Sun Seekers is an East German film, directed by Konrad Wolf during 1958. It was banned and subsequently released only in 1972.

References

  1. Story of A Young Couple on DEFA foundation's website.
  2. Ulrich Pfeil. Die "anderen" deutsch-französischen Beziehungen: die DDR und Frankreich 1949. Bohlau (2003). ISBN   978-3-412-04403-9. Page 317.
  3. Ingrid Poss. Spur der Filme: Zeitzeugen über die DEFA. Links Verlag (2006). ISBN   978-3-86153-401-3. Page 84.
  4. 1 2 Soviet Zone: Bitter Laurels . Der Spiegel, 13 February 1952.
  5. Story of A Young Couple . DEFA Film Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
  6. Seán Allan, John Sandford. DEFA: East German cinema, 1946–1992. ISBN   978-1-57181-753-2. Page 68.
  7. Peter C. Rollins, John E. O'Connor. Why we fought: America's wars in film and history. The University Press of Kentucky (2008). ISBN   978-0-8131-9191-1. Page 324.
  8. Alexander Stephan. Americanization And Anti-Americanism: The German Encounter with American Culture after 1945. Berghahn Books (2008). ISBN   978-1-57181-673-3. Page 158.
  9. Anke Pinkert. Film and memory in East Germany. Indiana University Press (2008). ISBN   978-0-253-21967-1. Pages 14, 131.
  10. John Griffith Urang. Legal tender: love and legitimacy in the East German cultural imagination. Cornell University Press (2010). ISBN   978-0-8014-7653-2. Page 32.