Liebelei

Vienna, 1910; a whirlwind love affair between Fritz, a young lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army, and Christine, the shy and sensitive daughter of a musician, ends in tragedy. Ophuls freely adapted Schnitzler’s play in which Christine’s great love is just another affair for the dissolute lieutenant already involved with a baroness. In the film Fritz’s affair with the baroness has more or less ended and the couple’s expression of undying love (not entirely cynical on his part), is threatened by the baron’s vengefulness - the portrayal, in the play, of innocence destroyed by cynical players in a decadent society gives way to Ophuls’ atmospheric portrayal of love doomed by hollow class distinction and hidebound notions of honour. Cast includes Magda Schneider, Wolfgang Liebeneiner and Gustaf Grundgens. In German with English subtitles.