Young Törless [Der Junge Törless] **** (1966, Mathieu Carrière, Marian Seidowsky, Bernd Tischer, Barbara Steele) – Classic Movie Review 7497

Writer-director Volker Schlöndorff’s powerful and relevant 1966 Young Törless [Der Junge Törless] is notable as this important German film-maker’s first feature.

It is his forceful, assured, well-acted version of the classic Robert Musil parable novel Die Verwirrungen des Zoeglings Törless about the power struggle in a pre-war Austro-Hungarian boarding school.

Mathieu Carrière stars as sensitive young Thomas Törless who sees his school pal Anselm von Basini (Marian Seidowsky) bullied and punished by two sadistic cadets, after they have caught him stealing money from one of them, and decide to deal with him themselves. The passive Törless hesitates to tell the authorities, and just stands by and watches.

Britain’s Barbara Steele plays Bozena, a serving girl who teaches the lads a thing or two. Also in the cast are Bernd Tischer, Alfred Dietz, Herbert Asmodi, Lotte Ledl, Hanna-Axmann Rezzoni, Fritz Gehlen and Jean Launay.

It is the winner of the international critics’ FIPRESCI Prize award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966.

Schlöndorff provides the screenplay and Herbert Asmodi the adaptation from the novel by Robert Musil.

Young Torless is available on DVD in The Criterion Collection.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7497

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