And who, might you ask, is Clara Wieck? Well, if she hadn't married Schumann, she might have been much more famous than he. Her pianist abilities were thought to be equal to or greater than those of Franz Liszt. I had the privilege of seeing this film in New York City in a small theater, subtitled. A friend of mine rented it and, unlike one of the posters, his film was dubbed in English. I am glad I got to see the German version.
This is a beautiful film with a feminist bend to it, being the story of a brilliantly talented young woman exploited by her father and Schumann, who becomes her husband. Kinski is absolutely wonderful and beautiful. Also, her piano fingerings are great.
There is an interesting line at the end, where Wieck says, talking about her home with Schumann, "I hope there will be room for two pianos." Of course there weren't, and she was forever known as Clara Schumann.
The film doesn't go into the fact that Clara Schumann did have a career after marriage, however, and a good part of her relationship with her husband revolved around their mutual passion for music. She had 8 children but managed to compose and do concert tours, often with her husband, until he was institutionalized. After Schumann's death, with the help of Brahms, she continued to do concerts though plagued by various ailments.
Try to see this film in German with subtitles if at all possible.
