Rosen im Herbst

'Rosen I'm Herbst', even by 1955 standards, did not contain the freshest of material - in fact, it was hodge-podge of banalities, but it had the fresh, appealing and unique radiance of Ruth Leuwerik; a down-to-earth, human approach; a painstaking direction; a top-notch supporting cast and situations and dialogue that were often tender, touching and true. All involved managed to turn 'Rosen I'm Herbst' into a 1955 smash of major proportions. Critics and public alike praised Miss Leuwerik's fresh, if muted, beauty and her intelligence and radiance as Effie Briest, a woman trapped in a loveless marriage.

Handsomely produced with a lush score that considerably enhanced the sorrow-laden ambiance, 'Rosen I'm Herbst' proved just the ticket for millions of women, who had cultivated an addiction to watching Ruth Leuwerik suffer in that glamorous style for which she had become noted.

Miss Leuwerik, one of Germany's most ladylike heroines in the 50's, was a handsome woman, whose aristocratic beauty graced many such drama. She was also an excellent actress with a stage-trained voice whose timbre enhanced her pictorial image.

That's "a wide field" that I feel obliged to go back to the very revered master Theodor Fontane (1819-1898) through this excellent literary adaptation. The film adaptation produced by the legendary Ilse Kubaschewski (Divina-Film, Gloria distribution) is based on his "Effi Briest".

And all the beloved characters in the novel appear: the enthusiastic pharmacist Alonso Gieshübler (Günther Lüders), who was not yet able to live out his homosexuality in the Wilhelmine Empire, the ice-blond housekeeper Johanna (wonderfully: the later wife of the "Hexer" Margot Trooger), will take advantage of the chance to become Innstettens second wife at some point. The wonderful singer Marietta Tripelli (Lola Müthel), who was actually born Marie Trippel. And then of course a supporting character that I particularly love: Roswitha (Lotte Brackebusch, 1898-1978), who comes from the Catholic Eichsfeld and will support poor Effi until her horrible end. What characters! What a great novel! And these were just minor characters who appeared at the very edge of the plot!

Lil Dagover and Paul Hartmann are convincing as mother and father Briest, who marry their only daughter to the mother's former admirer, because he - contrary to expectations - has now become a district administrator, while old Briest is moldering on his country estate. The eternal lover Carl Raddatz plays the fiery Major von Crampas, who dutifully puts himself in the shadows with his fiery stallion when Effi leaves for Berlin. The stiff Innstetten, who loves to keep his little owner submissive with ghost stories, is played by the later Golden Globe winner Bernhard Wicki (in 1960, of course, for "Die Brücke", he was also a famous director). And as Effi: the fantastic Ruth Leuwerik! What a star Ruth Leuwerik was in this Federal Republic film industry! This woman could play anything.

The film was shot on the Besenhausen manor near beautiful Göttingen, on the North Sea island of Sylt and in the Bavaria Film Studios in Geiselgasteig.

Lots of Innstetten, everywhere! This type of cold-hearted careerist who would rather keep the people around him in fear than stand up for his own feelings...unfortunately, he still exists and will never die out. Whether in Hitler's Germany, Putin's Russia or in all other authoritarian regimes in world history, men (and certainly women in recent times!?) like Geert von Innstetten will always find their way to the top, to the point where they can do as much as possible can cause damage. Fontane masterfully shows what men like him are like in their private lives. It is up to us readers to learn from this how such people can be stopped, as early as possible, if possible through an extended environment that sometimes says no energetically and shows limits. If not, all a failing father can do is babble at his daughter's grave that the field is "too wide."

This outstanding film and also the masterful novel by the revered Fontane cannot be praised enough! The real Effi, Elisabeth of Ardenne, who was divorced at the time, is almost 100 years old. She, who served as the model in the novel, certainly had to die a kind of "social death", but she was definitely able to win real life for herself.