Sühne ohne Sünde

"Catene" is the European melodrama ,very different from the American one ;in the Italian (or French) works,the woman does not make up for her love grief with business success:she knows her place and all she has in mind is to win her husband's love again and save her family ;one should point out that ,in "Catene" the children do not overplay,as it is often the case in the genre ,but shows sensitiveness and true pain (you can read the whole tragedy in the little boy's dark eyes).It has also a reactionary side (but it is the name of the game in melodrama): a woman shall not cheat on her husband (and the the other way about?),principally if he is a shady person with a mysterious (and dishonest) past .

Although the ending is predictable ,the two leads' conviction stretches the meaning of their words.