Fontane - Effi Briest (1974)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (writer)
Theodor Fontane (novel)

Release Date:

16 June 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In the nineteenth century, seventeen year old Effi Briest is married to the older Baron von Instetten and moves into a house...

Plot Keywords:

Duel | Affair | Lapsed Catholic | Melodrama | Lawyer

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Hanna Schygulla	...	Effi Briest / von Instetten
Wolfgang Schenck	...	Baron Geert von Instetten
Ulli Lommel	...	Major Crampas
Lilo Pempeit	...	Louise Briest, Mutter
Herbert Steinmetz	...	Herr Briest, Vater
Ursula Strätz	...	Roswitha, Kindermädchen
Irm Hermann	...	Johanna, Haushälterin
Karlheinz Böhm	...	Geheimrat Wüllersdorf (as Karl-Heinz Böhm)
Karl Scheydt	...	Kruse
Barbara Lass	...	Polnische Köchin
Rudolf Lenz	...	Geheimrat Rummschüttel
Andrea Schober	...	Annie von Instetten, Tochter
Eva Mattes	...	Hulda
Theo Tecklenburg	...	Pastor Niemeyer
An Dorthe Braker	...	Frau Pasche (as Anndorthe Braker)

Also Known As:

Effi Briest (Australia)
Fontane - Effi Briest oder: Viele, die eine Ahnung haben von ihren Möglichkeiten und Bedürfnissen und dennoch das herrschende System in ihrem Kopf akzeptieren durch ihre Taten und es somit festigen und durchaus bestätigen (West Germany) (complete title)

Runtime:

Germany:140 min | USA:135 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Black Forest, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Company:

Tango Film

Trivia:

The complete title of the film is one of the longest titles (if not the longest) in film history: "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"

Quotes:

Effi Briest: He was as noble as one who doesn't know true love can be.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tillsammans (2000)

The word "masterpiece" comes immediately to mind...

This film has everything one could ask for: astonishing visual intelligence and imagination, wonderfully evocative, impeccably composed images that draw on silent cinema and painting, all perfectly adapted to the very moving story being told, and the period/milieu in which it unfolds: Effie Briest is presented as enclosed in the many different spaces (most of them - especially the interiors - saturated with stifling formality, social rectitude and conformity) through which she moves and in which she lives, or tries to live (the bird in the cage being a transparent symbol of all this). Quite simply, Fassbinder knows - knew - what "mise en scene" really means. The passage of time is brilliantly handled (through, for example, the use of the fade to white, intertitles and a moving voice-over narration), and the cast is flawless, as well as being flawlessly directed. A film of immense dignity and power, yet it somehow remains understated...