Abschied - Brechts letzter Sommer (2000)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Jan Schütte

Writer:

Klaus Pohl (writer)

Release Date:

14 September 2000 (Germany)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot Keywords:

1950s | Illness | East Germany | Boyfriend Girlfriend Relationship | Deutsche Demokratische Republik

Cast

Josef Bierbichler	...	Bertolt Brecht
Monica Bleibtreu	...	Helene Weigel
Jeanette Hain	...	Käthe Reichel
Elfriede Irrall	...	Elisabeth Hauptmann
Margit Rogall	...	Ruth Berlau
Samuel Finzi	...	Wolfgang Harich
Rena Zednikova	...	Isot Kilian
Birgit Minichmayr	...	Barbara Brecht
Tilman Günther	...	Offizier der Staatssicherheit
Paul Herwig	...	Manfred Weckwerth
Claudius Freyer	...	Peter Palitzsch
Emanuel Spitzy	...	Jungpionier
Slawomir Holland	...	Offizier der Staatssicherheit
Piotr Kryska	...	Fahrer der Staatssicherheit
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ulrich Matthes	...	Wolfgang Harig

Also Known As:

Abschied (Germany) (working title)
Buckower Elegien (Germany) (working title)
Pozegnanie (Poland)
The Farewell (Canada: English title) (festival title)

Country:

Germany | Poland

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Germany:6 | UK:15 (video rating) | UK:PG (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Poland

Company:

Arte

Portrait of the artist as a flawed man

An intimate portrait of Brecht's final days, set around tranquil surroundings which stand in contrast with the passionate emotions of the assorted characters (jealousy, betrayal, petty spite).

It is an absorbing study, examining in subtle detail Brecht's relationships, the deep love (and hate) he seemed to inspire from the women in his life, as well as portraying the often casual cruelty with which he treated them, i.e. he suddenly talks to his loyal 'helper' Elisabeth Hauptmann about his work after having studiously ignored her for a week. I found it interesting how the various women in his life were often irresistibly drawn to each other (unspoken) despite their open hostilities, i.e the alcoholic Ruth and the self-effacing Elisabeth.

The writer and director cleverly toyed with the relationship between the ageing Brecht, a man who fled the US before he could be indicted by MacCarthy , and Wolfgang Harich, the young dissident for whom the Stasi lie in wait in the woods.

The film is the story of a great writer and flawed individual. It is about the smallness of greatness. Brecht, who wrote about the difficulty of being a good man in a bad world, is non-committal, the showcase man of letters in Communist GDR, as opposed to Harich's political idealist. As Brecht warns Harich at the end (with almost prophetic hindsight), the younger man's arrest would symbolise 'his bad conscience'. Sadly, it is a prophecy that does not take long to be fulfilled