Mädchen in Uniform (1931)

Director:

Leontine Sagan

Writers:

Friedrich Dammann (writer)
Christa Winsloe (play)

Release Date:

27 November 1931 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

German film in which a sensitive girl is sent to an all-girls boarding school and develops a romantic attachment to one of her teachers...

Plot Keywords:

Boarding School | Lesbian | Suicide Attempt | Deprivation | Discipline

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Hertha Thiele	...	Manuela von Meinhardis
Dorothea Wieck	...	Erzieherin Fräulein von Bernburg
Emilia Unda	...	Fräulein von Nordeck zur Nidden - Oberin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Erika Biebrach	...	Lilli von Kattner
Gertrud de Lalsky	...	Exzellenz von Ehrenhardt - Manuelas Tante
Else Ehser	...	Gardrobiere Elise
Erika Mann	...	Erzieherin Fräulein von Atems
Barbara Pirk	...	Mia von Wollin
Ethel Reschke	...	Oda von Oldersleben
Hedwig Schlichter	...	Erzieherin Fräulein von Kesten
Ellen Schwanneke	...	Ilse von Westhagen (as Ellen Schwannecke)
Doris Thalmer	...	Mariechen von Ecke (as Dora Thalmer)
Ilse Vigdor	...	Anneliese von Beckendorf
Annemarie von Rochhausen	...	Edelgard Komtesse von Mengsberg
Ilse Werner	...	Marga von Rasso
Charlotte Witthauer	...	Ilse von Treischke

Also Known As:

Girls in Uniform
Maedchen in Uniform (USA)
Maidens in Uniform

Runtime:

88 min | USA:87 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Unrated

Company:

Deutsche Film-Gemeinschaft

Trivia:

The Nazi regime tried to burn all the copies of this movie. They couldn't.

Quotes:

Manuela von Meinhardis: When you say goodnight and shut the door to your room I stare at the door in the darkness. I want to get up and come to you but I know that I can't. I think about when I leave the school and you'll still be here. And every night you kiss new girls...
Fraulein von Bernburg: What a silly idea!
Manuela von Meinhardis: I love you so, but you're always so distant. I can't ever go to your room, or talk to you, or...
Fraulein von Bernburg: Pull yourself together child. Forget you're a young girl and be a good friend. You know I can't make exceptions or the other girls will be jealous. But I think of you often, Manuela.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) (TV)

Mädchen in Uniform is clearly a wonderful portrayal of sexuality in film, but what exactly is the sexuality that is portrayed?

Mädchen in Uniform is a very impressive German film that presents an unusual sexual awakening in an equally unusual situation, which leads to some complex content to analyze. It is clearly the presentation of a sexuality that is not considered normal, but it is not necessarily a lesbian film. I think that the fact that there is not a single man in the film and, even more, the intimate relationship between Manuela and Fräulein von Bernburg, give the impression that there is a strong lesbian undertone in the film, but I don't think that it was meant to be seen that way. It seemed to me that it was more of a coming of age film than a lesbian film.

I think that Mädchen in Uniform was the portrayal of a girl who needed a higher than average amount of attention and who was reaching the age where her sexuality was beginning to take form, and because she was in an all-girl school and had no male influence in her life, she attached to the most accessible person who could fulfill those needs - Fräulein von Bernburg. It seemed to me that Manuela became so amorously attached to Fräulein von Bernburg more because of a lack of options than because of an interest in the same sex. There is undeniably a lot of female/female eroticism in the film (such as that goodnight kiss), but I don't think that it is a portrayal of lesbianism. It seems to me that the film has at least as much to say about budding sexuality and freedom of exploration for teenagers as it does about homosexuality.

Manuela's needs for attention (and the same need harbored by the other girls in the film) was most directly presented in the scene where Fräulein von Bernburg comes through the room to kiss the girls goodnight one by one. In the novel Swann's Way, Marcel Proust presents a character who is so obsessed with his goodnight kiss from his mother that he literally fantasizes about it all day, and then is miserable after she kisses him because he will have to wait so long before he gets that attention from her again. He is completely dependent on that kiss, and in that gigantic novel, a large part of the reason that he is so obsessed with his mother's kiss is because he is largely isolated from the outside world an has an emotionally distant father. His only source of affectionate attention is from his mother, and it is portrayed in a way that almost seems incestuous because he loves so much to feel his mothers lips on his face. This is the same thing that is going on in Mädchen in Uniform, except in a slightly different form.

Now, whether or not Mädchen in Uniform is, in fact, a lesbian film, there are definitely some typical stereotypes derailed in the close of the movie. Manuela was driven to the point of suicide by the adults at the all-girl school she attended, and it was the children who had to come in to save her (which is an element of the story that strengthens the assertion that it supports freedom for teenagers, who are clearly able to make wise decisions on their own), and there is also the fact that she did not commit suicide, which is significant because it would have been the stereotypical way for a woman (especially a homosexual woman) to respond to a stressful situation that she cannot control.

It seemed to me that in that way, the movie broke down a some stereotypes, but it is important to really analyze the film so that we can see what, if any, stereotypes are applied to the characters and to the story. The sexuality in the film is obviously not traditional, but one must take into account the circumstances under which that sexuality is portrayed before one can decipher a specific message from the film.