Fontane Effi Briest

English title: Effi Briest

Also known as: Fontane Effi Briest or Many People Who Are Aware of Their Own Capabilities and Needs, yet Acquiesce to the Prevailing System in Their Thoughts and Deeds, Thereby Confirm and Reinforce It

Genre: psychological drama (in black and white)

With: Hanna Schygulla (Effi Briest), Wolfgang Schenk (Baron Geert Instetten), Ulli Lommel (Major Crampas), Lilo Pempeit (Mrs. Briest), Herbert Steinmetz (Mr. Briest), Ursula Strätz (Roswitha), Irm Hermann (Johanna Paaschen), Barbara Lass (Mrs. Kruse), Karlheinz Böhm (Wüllersdorf), Andrea Schober (Annie), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (the Narrator)

Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Screenplay: Rainer Werner Fassbinder (based on the novel by Theodor Fontane)

Release: 1974

Studio: Tango Film Produktion, Nummer Drei

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.4/10 

 

Ambitious Aristocrat Seeks Dutiful Trophy Wife for Long-Term Relationship 

 

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Story-line: Hohen-Cremmen (Germany) in the late 1800s. Effi Briest, an attractive and impetuous 17-year-old, catches the eye of Geert Instetten, a nobleman who had courted her mother twenty years before. A marriage is proposed, approved and promptly arranged. Congratulations, Effi and Geert!

Pluses: solid performances by Hanna Schygulla, Wolfgang Schenk, Ulli Lommel and a gifted cast, sober direction, a packed, clinical and dialogue-driven screenplay that carefully examines the increasingly awkward relationship between Effi, Geert, his staff and friends, strong production values evoking the moods and settings of the era, pretty cinematography that dares to be unusual when circumstances warrant.  

Minuses: this complex psychological drama may seem slow, episodic and literary to some viewers but I felt that the story in itself, supported by R.W.F.’s informative narration, moves along at a reasonable clip. If quirky details are your cup of tea, keep an eye out for Mrs. Kruse and her pet hen.

Comments: EFFI BRIEST is a quiet and thoughtful study à la Bergman in which characters who do not abide by a stifling social code risk being embroiled in compromising situations. In this intimidating little world, mirrors are ubiquitous and their use is especially revealing: characters will gaze into one to check their appearance (a sign of vanity, embarrassment, insecurity?) or to discuss issues without facing other people directly, unwittingly showing how hard it is for them to express their feelings or reach a common understanding. Although deliberate and restrained, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s work satisfied me from its opening frames to its disturbing ending. As Effi acknowledges late in the movie, ‟l was old enough to know what I was doing.” 

 

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