Leo und Claire (2001)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Joseph Vilsmaier

Writers:

Reinhard Klooss (writer)
Christiane Kohl (novel)

Release Date:

18 April 2002 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot Keywords:

Emigration | Ménage À Trois | Deportation | Family Relationships | Courtroom

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Michael Degen	...	Leo Katzenberger
Franziska Petri	...	Irene Scheffler
Suzanne von Borsody	...	Claire Katzenberger
Alexandra Maria Lara	...	Käthe Katzenberger
Axel Milberg	...	Hausmeister Maisel
Jochen Nickel	...	Paul Steinheil
Andrea Sawatzki	...	Helga Steinheil
Dietmar Schönherr
Jürgen Schornagel	...	Dr. Rothaug
Jasmin Schwiers	...	Lilo Katzenberger
Rüdiger Vogler	...	Max Katzenberger
Kai Wiesinger
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael Brandner	...	Fritz Haeberlein
Andreas Hofer
Nina Hoger	...	Lisbeth Häberlein
Nicky Kantor	...	Alex Haeberlein
George Lenz	...	Bernhard Freimann
Natalie Spinell	...	Magda Steinheil (as Natalie Spinell-Beck)
Alice Treff

Also Known As:

Der Jude und das Mädchen (Germany) (working title)
Leo & Claire (International: English title)
One Kiss (Europe: English title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Jerusalem, Israel

Company:

Odeon Film

a solid, well-made, moving film based on actual events

I saw this at the Montreal Film Festival, which this year is showcasing German cinema. Leo und Claire is based on a real story, the account of a German Jewish manufacturer who was tried and executed for having sexual relations with a young Aryan woman. But this is really a love story, and the new title, which focuses on the relationship between the man and his wife, Claire, puts the emphasis in the right place. Although Leo was innocent of the charge, he was certainly guilty of being Jewish in Nazi Germany and the film has the courage to deal with the complicity of "ordinary Germans" in the persecution and destruction of the Jews. As well, although the viewer's emotions are gripped by Leo's trial and sentence, no one watching the film will overlook the irony that in some terrible way, he got off lucky compared to what probably happened to his wife and those of his family who were still in Germany, of which nothing specific is known. The participation of Leo's daughter, Lilo, now an old woman resident in Israel, where she lived through the war years, makes the film that much more immediate.