Effi Briest **** (1974, Hanna Schygulla, Wolfgang Schenck, Ulli Lommel, Karl-Heinz Böhm) – Classic Movie Review 6183

Writer-producer-director Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1974 German gem is based on the novel by Theodor Fontane. These were glory days for Fassbinder.

Fassbinder turns this 19th-century tale of the teenaged beauty Effi Briest (Hanna Schygulla) into one of his finest films. Effi is compelled to marry the much older aristocrat Baron von Instetten (Wolfgang Schenck), but has a fling with the younger officer Major Crampas (Ulli Lommel), ending in a duel between the two men.

Full praise goes to the commanding acting, particularly the glorious performance by the admirable Schygulla, and to the director’s tremendous work, keeping remarkable control over his stylised filming of his own clever screenplay.

Also in the cast are Karlheinz [Karl-Heinz] Böhm as Wüllersdorf, Ursula Strätz as Roswitha, Hark Böhm as Apotheker Gieshübler , Lilo Pempeit as Frau Briest, Herbert Steinmetz as Herr Briest, Irm Hermann as Johanna, Karl Scheydt as Kruse, Rudolf Lenz as Geheimrat Rummschüttel, Barbara Valentin as Marietta Tripelli, Barbara Lass as Polnische Köchin, Peter Gauhe as Vetter Dagobert and Eva Mattes as Hulda.

It is shot in black and white by Jürgen Jürges and Dietrich Lohmann, and designed by Kurt Raab, with theme music by Camille Saint-Saëns.

It is also known as Fontane Effi Briest but the complete title is Fontane Effi Briest oder viele, die eine Ahnung haben von ihren Möglichkeiten und ihren Bedürfnissen und trotzdem das herrschende System in ihrem Kopf akzeptieren durch ihre Taten und es somit festigen und durchaus bestätigen. That is, Fontane Effi Briest or many who have an idea of their possibilities and their needs and yet accept the ruling system in their heads through their deeds and thus consolidate and confirm. It was an era of daft titles.

Schygulla won the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival for The Marriage of Maria Braun [Die Ehe der Maria Braun] (1979),

Karlheinz Böhm (1928–2014) is the star of Peeping Tom (1960), playing Mark Lewis (as Carl Boehm).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6183

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