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The Legend of Paul and Paula

Original title: Die Legende von Paul und Paula
  • 1973
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 45m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
The Legend of Paul and Paula (1973)
SatireComedyDramaRomance

Paul and Paula have had bad experiences with love: Paul is financially well off but has lost all affection for his wife, and Paula leads a troublesome life raising two children on her own. T... Read allPaul and Paula have had bad experiences with love: Paul is financially well off but has lost all affection for his wife, and Paula leads a troublesome life raising two children on her own. They meet and discover a strong passion for each other. Life seems like a dream when they'r... Read allPaul and Paula have had bad experiences with love: Paul is financially well off but has lost all affection for his wife, and Paula leads a troublesome life raising two children on her own. They meet and discover a strong passion for each other. Life seems like a dream when they're together - but their short flights from the burdens of reality are once and again interr... Read all

  • Director
    • Heiner Carow
  • Writers
    • Heiner Carow
    • Anne Pfeuffer
    • Ulrich Plenzdorf
  • Stars
    • Angelica Domröse
    • Winfried Glatzeder
    • Heidemarie Wenzel
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.8/10
    1.3K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Heiner Carow
    • Writers
      • Heiner Carow
      • Anne Pfeuffer
      • Ulrich Plenzdorf
    • Stars
      • Angelica Domröse
      • Winfried Glatzeder
      • Heidemarie Wenzel
    • 13User reviews
    • 7Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos12

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    Top cast38

    Edit
    Angelica Domröse
    Angelica Domröse
    • Paula (Adam)
    Winfried Glatzeder
    Winfried Glatzeder
    • Paul
    Heidemarie Wenzel
    Heidemarie Wenzel
    • Die Schöne (Ines)
    Fred Delmare
    Fred Delmare
    • Reifen-Saft
    Rolf Ludwig
    Rolf Ludwig
    • Professor
    Käthe Reichel
    • Frau des Schießbudenbesitzers
    Hans Hardt-Hardtloff
    • Schießbudenbesitzer
    Frank-Otto Schenk
    • Kollege Schmidt
    • (as Frank Schenk)
    Dietmar Richter-Reinick
    • Kumpel
    Eva-Maria Hagen
    Eva-Maria Hagen
    • Die Blonde
    Jürgen Frohriep
    Jürgen Frohriep
    • Martin
    Christian Steyer
    Christian Steyer
    • Colli
    Willi Schrade
    • Liebhaber der Schönen
    Peter Gotthardt
    • Musikerkollege
    Marga Legal
    • Nachbarin
    Brigitte Beier
    • Verkäuferin
    Edgar Külow
    • Fotograf
    Frank Michelis
    • Rentner
    • Director
      • Heiner Carow
    • Writers
      • Heiner Carow
      • Anne Pfeuffer
      • Ulrich Plenzdorf
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews13

    6.81.3K
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    10

    Featured reviews

    3kenjha

    Bad import

    Paul and Paula go through life picking the wrong partners until they happen to hook up with each other and the legend begins. Low-budget German film has the look of a cheesy porno movie. The script is pretty standard boy-meets-girl story. The acting by Domrose (as Paula, who seems to work in an amazingly busy grocery store or something and has wild mood swings) and Glatzeder (as the goofy Paul) is not bad, considering the clichéd characters they are playing. The direction is amateurish, with incongruous shots of buildings being demolished thrown in. The soundtrack is filled with bad German pop songs, although it is interesting that they get the lyrics to rhyme even after translating to English.
    7turnmaxw

    A Psychedelic East Germany Love Story...

    This film is a fascinating artifact to watch, and I use my language carefully there. This is perhaps not a film with as much current meaning and significance as other pieces of German cinema, but when watched as an artifact of how it might have felt to live in East Germany in the 70s (not to suggest that Paul and Paula themselves are necessary the model), it is a fascinating and interesting watch. Of course, within this, I do not seek to reduce it simply to a piece of history, it is art, entertaining and beautifully done, but I do think one needs to watch from the perspective of an East German in the 70s.

    What does this entail? It entails watching not for a simple critique of East Germany and socialism. It entails watching not for a love story. It entails watching not to fulfil some preconceived notion of what is right and what is wrong. Instead, one must seek to go beyond these simple conclusions. I'm not the one to say what this film means, and that is precisely my point. When this film was released East Germany was far behind its Western counterpart in terms of economic development. Socialism was not achieving what it desired. It's easy in that light to jump to conclusions right away about what the film means. Instead of doing that, ask why Erich Honecker, leader of East Germany, would have personally allowed this film to be shown? Ask why this film was (and still is to many) beloved by East Germans. My point is, this film is more than one thing, equally critical as it is optimistic, equally a love story as it is a Shakespearian tragedy, and equally compelling as it is confusing.

    Give it a watch, you may not like it (I only gave it a 7), but it is incredibly rich.
    8dk-138

    Excellent in many respects

    If you want to get the feel of life in East Germany and of life in the 70s, this is your film. It is critical of the socialist system (national socialism ended in 1945, afterwards there was no Nazi-propaganda anywhere anymore, especially not in the East! Sorry, but another reviewer got this wrong), offers a romantic story and good acting by well-known actors. It is still cult in Berlin, where you can regularly see in the cinema. It kicked off the wave of east-German nostalgia. The film was so successful that today you can still see references to it in other films (eg. "Sonnenallee") and that the city decided to name a path along a lake "Paul und Paula Ufer" with a Paul und Paula bench to sit on. Also the soundtrack is worth listening to (especially the lyrics) and marked the beginning of the Puhdys'huge career.
    7Red-125

    Tweaking the system, but very gently

    "Die Legende von Paul und Paula" (1973), co-written and directed by Heiner Carow, is a famous film in Germany. The story seems tame enough now--a young woman is dissatisfied with her life and takes active steps to improve it.

    Angelica Domröse plays Paula, a single mother who has a dead-end job and no social life. Winfried Glatzeder portrays Paul, who is unhappily married and is drawn to the free-spirited Paula. (Glatzeder has been called East Germany's Jean-Paul Belmondo. He didn't look much like Belmondo, and wouldn't have struck me as leading man material. However, I don't know enough about East German cinema to be aware of his competition.)

    I've been told that the reason for this film's popularity in East Germany was because it contained subtle criticism of the regime, as well as depicting some PG-13 sex. I know East German films were subject to strict censorship, and, as in any similar regime, directors inserted criticisms in ways that were necessarily very indirect and symbolic.

    The problem is that this movie only works if you can think of how you would have viewed it in East Berlin in 1973. I don't believe it's strong enough to succeed on its own merits in 2006.
    Barboelsch

    Freakin' heck

    It's kind of weird. Angelica Domröse speaks in the movie of a Banana and why it's bent, yet she as an actress has probably never seen one. Also her parents most likely chose her name 'Angelica' (note: the name is spelt 'Angelika' in any German-speaking country) to mock the Soviet system and give credit to the American way of life. Just like pretty much anyone else in the GDR (note: if ever you meet a girl in Europe named 'Doreen', 'Melissa' or 'Mandy', it's pretty safe to say that she's from East Germany).

    Pretty much all of the home appliances shown are authentic, yet they had to introduce coffee and cosmetics (which didn't really exist in the GDR at that time) to make it suitable for the political demagogues. Imagine it: the fact that there is a sentence in English ("excuse me, only one glass for you") could have led to a total ban of the entire movie.

    What else is there to say? Try to understand the lyrics of the Band 'Puhdys' featured manifold in this flick and the in-between-the-lines-messages and how this was important to get thoughts of freedom past the GDR's government's census.

    Well you guys probably don't and will never understand what kind of fruit GDR's socialism sprouted, but watching 'Paul and Paula' could theoretically help you get at least a glimpse.

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    Related interests

    Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
    Satire
    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
    Romance

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Female DEFA-director Ingrid Reschke made preparations for the film, but her life was tragically cut short in a car accident, and Heiner Carow took over the project. He dedicated the film to her memory.
    • Connections
      Edited into Der nackte Osten - Erotik zwischen oben und unten (1994)
    • Soundtracks
      Geh zu Ihr
      Music by Peter Gotthardt

      Lyrics by Ulrich Plenzdorf & Peter Gotthardt

      Performed by Puhdys

      VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin AMIGA

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    FAQ13

    • How long is The Legend of Paul and Paula?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 14, 1973 (East Germany)
    • Country of origin
      • East Germany
    • Language
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Легенда о Пауле и Пауле
    • Filming locations
      • Berlin, Germany
    • Production companies
      • DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme
      • Künstlerische Arbeitsgruppe ''Berlin''
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 45m(105 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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