Director: Gerhard Klein
Actors: Annekathrin Bürger, Ulrich Thein, Uwe-Jens Pape, Erika Dunkelman, Marga Legal, Erich Franz
Country: East Germany

Before November 9th ends where I am, I have to post at least one entry that has to do with the Berlin wall… or at least about East and West Germany. I chose Eine Berliner Romanze, although the film was made before the wall itself was built.

It is a lovely film, but I feel like I would have gotten so much more if I knew the historical context and understood the ending. The English DEFA website says that Hans (Thein) gets a job in the GDR, but I didn’t think that was all that clear. Maybe it just went over my head? Maybe it was simply implied since he goes to the east with Uschi (Bürger) when she tells him that he is invited for dinner, thus there is a happy ending for both of them. There is a bittersweet note to all this because even though this couple is happy, another character does say that sooner or later, it won’t be easy for the couple to meet. The building of the wall is implied although it isn’t specific to the wall because the character knows that the tension between the Soviet bloc and the Western bloc is growing.

What I liked about this film was that it’s a simple story yet it gives an insight to what Berlin was like during the division. People could walk in and out of the different sectors and there didn’t seem to be discrimination towards the East Berliners since the West German shops accepted GDR’s currency. The two boys who fall for Uschi do not discriminate her for being an East Berliner and are more than eager to court her.

So is this film propagandistic? I would say yes and no. Uschi wants to get away from her drab life in the east and says that she wants to go to the west where everything is modern and exciting. Yet in the end, Uschi brings Hans to the east rather than the film ending on a middle ground or Uschi successfully running away to the west. The film also shows West Germany’s supposed economic boom in a bad light because we see Hans going to multiple places yet not succeeding in getting a job. I am planning to post about Alexander Kluge’s Abschied von gestern, which I think is somewhat similar to aspects of Einer Berliner Romanze. Both films don’t show the idealized view of either sides of Germany by portraying both sides having their own problems. But then again, I suppose any film can be deemed as propaganda when they portray their own country in a positive light *shrugs*.
While the ending is simple and cute, does it really mean anything? I guess film scholars can go on and on about what this film could mean except I am scared that I will overanalyze this film. I just need to be more sure about myself! And I definitely need to rewatch this film to clear up the ending and to read more about life in East and West Germany, particular in Berlin.

I highly recommend this film because it’s not like what you would imagine a film to be from a socialist country. It’s cute, it’s sweet, but it also has moments that give you an insight into what life was like back then or even before (such as Uschi’s comment about the thing she was eating “not being the same”, which I thought was a poke to Germany pre-East/West split). It’s a great way to start watching East German films because it goes against the stereotypes of “communist/socialist” films and shows that East German films have similarities with the films from the west.

IMDb Link: Eine Berliner Romanze
Where to buy: DEFA Film Library

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 10:54 pm and is filed under 1950s, Countries, East Germany, Year. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.