Effi Briest (1974) Fontane - Effi Briest (original title)

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder
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:

Affair | Lapsed Catholic | Duel | Violence | Imperial Germany

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)
Peter Gauhe	...	Vetter Dagobert
Barbara Valentin	...	Marietta Tripelli, Sängerin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hark Bohm	...	Apotheker Gieshübler (uncredited)
Margit Carstensen	...	Johanna (voice) (uncredited)
Wolfgang Hess	...	Major Crampas (voice) (uncredited)
Renate Küster	...	Roswitha (voice) (uncredited)
Fred Maire	...	Herr von Briest (voice) (uncredited)
Arnold Marquis	...	Herr Briest (voice) (uncredited)
Kurt Raab	...	Apotheker Gieshübler (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Theodor Fontane		novel

Produced by
Rainer Werner Fassbinder	....	producer

Cinematography by
Jürgen Jürges
Dietrich Lohmann

Film Editing by
Thea Eymèsz

Art Direction by
Kurt Raab

Costume Design by
Barbara Braun

Makeup Department
Sybille Danzer	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Christian Hohoff	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Rainer Langhans	....	assistant director
Fritz Müller-Scherz	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Fritz Müller-Scherz	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Ekkehard Heinrich	....	lighting technician
Ernst Küsters	....	lighting technician
Herbert Paetzold	....	assistant camera
Thomas Schwan	....	assistant camera

Production Companies

• Tango Film

Distributors

• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (video)
• New Yorker Films (1977) (USA) (subtitled)

Also Known As:

"Fontane - Effi Briest" - West Germany (original 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 Together (2000)

The Calculus of Fear

One the tablets used by Fassbinder in this movie (the same method he shall use 6 years later in "Berlin Alexanerplatz") shows the text: "He put her under pressure wherever he could. So-to-say a calculus of fear" (Fontane). As any other calculi, also the calculus of fear consists of theorems. Speaking about the relationship between Von Instetten and Effi, we have: 1. Never treat her without menacing, but do not show the menace open, so that you can deny it after. 2. Isolate her from society, best make her a child as soon as possible so that she does not get bored. 3. Never praise her for what she is doing, unless in the presence of foreigners. 4. Praise her in front of her parents with whom you should establish a good friendship. If she is complaining later about her marriage, the guilt will be given to her.

As the sub-title of the movie says (the longest ever used in a movie): The movie is about those people who are capable to see the unjustness of social rules but don't help changing them, and by doing so, confirm them. "Effi Briest" is therefore a typical Fassbinder movie which he liked to call "melodramas" and thus also a predecessor of his later "women-movies" about Maria Braun, Lola, Lili Marleen and Veronika Voss.

That this film is an outstanding masterpiece has nowadays been recognized by all leading film experts around the world. Although Fassbinder let himself sometimes inspire by works of literature, Fontane's "Effi Briest" is one of his only three explicit literature adaptations, besides "Berlin Alexanderplatz" and "Querelle". One could perhaps go as far and say: While in "Effi Briest", society is criticized at the hand of one single, individual fate, in "Berlin Alexanderplatz" a society as a whole is put in the pillory, and in "Querelle" a possible alternative world after all the disgust is shown. Fassbinder made this long way in societal criticism in only eight years, during which he approached the society of the time in which he lived, by systematically coming closer to reach the 50ies of the 20th century (Lola). His movies can be seen as chronicles of different means of suppression by using calculi which turn out to be independent of time.