27 November - 3 December 2009 
  


Saturday 28 November - Sunday 29 November
ROMY SCHNEIDER
AT THE CURZON SOHO
SISSI | MAIDENS IN UNIFORM(1932) |
MAIDENS IN UNIFORM(1958)

Saturday 28 November 13:30 Curzon Soho
SiSsi

1955, Austria, Directed by Ernst Marischka. With Romy Schneider,
Karlheinz Böhm, Magda Schneider, Gustav Knuth.

In true fairy-tale fashion young Sissi, the daughter of Duke Max of Bavaria, accidentally meets and charms the Emperor of Austria Franz-Joseph so much that he marries her and so she becomes Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Followed by two sequels, and even an US compilation version of all three parts, the film was also a fairy-tale success for Romy Schneider. She was only seventeen when she shot the first film, the same age as Elisabeth after her marriage. However the films bear little resemblance to the real life of the Empress. Elisabeth seized every chance to get away from the confines of the court and led an unsettled life that possessed little of the harmony evoked by the films. These are, after all, simply fantastic spectacles serving a splendid mix of excellent performances, beautiful natural settings and lavish court scenes. 102min. German with English subtitles.
Introduced by Professor Erica Carter, Warwick University.


Continuing their investigation into queer fandom and crushes and in honour of Romy Schneider, Club Des Femmes is delighted to co-present with the Goethe-Institut a rare double bill of Maidens in Uniform (1931 and 1958 versions).
Writer Ali Smith will introduce each screening.

Sunday 29 November 15:30 Curzon Soho
Maidens in Uniform
(Mädchen in Uniform), 1931, Germany, Directed by Leontine Sagan.
With Hertha Thiele, Dorothea Wieck, Emilie Unda. German with English subtitles.

Prussia 1910. After the death of her mother, Manuela is taken to a boarding school for aristocratic girls. Sensitive and shy, she finds it difficult to adapt to the harsh Prussian discipline imposed by the school. Only one teacher, Fräulein von Bernburg, seems sympathetic to the girls, who all adore her. When Manuela, drunk with success and a little too much punch after performing in the school play openly declares her love for her teacher, the matron is outraged and her harsh punishment almost leads to catastrophe.

Based on the play Yesterday and Today by Christa Winslow, the story was first made into an internationally successful film in 1931. Directed by Leontine Sagan, it starred an all-female cast and was cooperatively produced with cast and crew sharing the profits. Critics praised it as a highlight of late Weimar cinema, but it was banned by the Nazis and only resurfaced with the rise of the feminist movement in the 70s, when its lesbian content moved more into focus, as opposed to its reading as a primarily anti-authoritarian film. 88min.

Sunday 29 November 17:45 Curzon Soho
Maidens in Uniform
(Mädchen in Uniform), 1958, FRG, Directed by Géza von Radványi.
With Romy Schneider, Lilli Palmer, Therese Giehse, Christine Kaufmann,
Sabine Sinjen. German with English subtitles.

Released in 1958, the remake by male director Géza von Radványi was also very popular and for Schneider it was a personal breakthrough. She easily identified with Manuela’s character, having spent several years in boarding school herself and having felt the pressures of early stardom. But more importantly she was part of an excellent ensemble that included Therese Giehse, one of Germany’s greatest stage actresses, as well as the younger but equally well-respected Lili Palmer. Schneider shared a kissing scene with Palmer that caused a minor scandal in orderly post-war Germany. For Schneider however there was nothing frivolous about the film or the role. For the first time she felt like a serious actress, as exulted and empowered as Manuela was by her part in the film’s pivotal stage play. 95min.

  



  
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