Lotte am Bauhaus (2019)

Lotte am Bauhaus is a historical drama which premiered on German television (ARD) in 2019. Bauhaus – a new and path-breaking school of art, architecture and design – was active in Germany 1919-1932. The movie about this school was shown on German television in order to mark and celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the founding.

As the title indicates, the story of this school (and the people connected with it) is seen from a female perspective.

Here is some basic information about this drama:

** Director: Gregor Schnitzler
** Writer: Jan Braren

** Language: German – no English subtitles!

** Run time: 105 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Alicia von Rittberg as Lotte Brendel – a German artist
** Noah Saavedra as Paul Seligmann – a German artist

** Jörg Hartmann as Walter Gropius (1883-1969) – founder of Bauhaus

** Nina Gummich as Friedl Dicker (1898-1944) – a German artist

** Marie Hacke as Anni Fleischmann (1899-1994)

As stated above, Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius in 1919. At first, it was in Weimar, but after six years in this place, it was forced to move. In 1925 it moved to Dessau where it remained until it was forced to close in 1932.

Why was the school forced to move from Weimar to Dessau in 1925? And why was it forced to close in 1932? In both cases the answer is: because of political circumstances.

Bauhaus was based on new and revolutionary ideas. One of the new ideas was that any person could apply to attend this school: not only men but also women. For some, this was right. For others, this was wrong. The school was controversial from the very beginning.

The Weimar Republic was founded as a liberal democracy where new ideas were welcome. But as the years went by, the confrontation between the right wing and the left wing of the political specter became increasingly violent. Conservative and later Nazi forces became stronger and stronger.

These forces regarded Bauhaus and similar institutions as communist which had to attacked and eventually destroyed. This is why Bauhaus had to close in 1932. Before Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in 1933.

In the drama, the story begins in 1920 and ends in 1932.

The leading character Lotte is fictional and so is Paul, who is at first her boyfriend and later her husband. But the other three characters listed above are real historical persons.

While Lotte is a fictional character, she is based on or at least inspired by a real historical person: Alma Buscher (1899-1944). If you compare the life and career of Lotte with the life and career of Alma, you will see that they are similar, but not identical. There are several points where Lotte’s life and career is different from Alma’s life and career. Here is just one example:

In 1932, when Bauhaus was forced to close, Alma remained in Germany. She was killed in 1944 during an air raid on the town where she lived (Buchschlag near Frankfurt am Main). Lotte left Germany in 1932 and immigrated to Palestine. Lotte survived World War Two and lived on in the new state of Israel.

I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. Therefore I am not going to say more than this. If you want to know what happens to Lotte and the people around her, you will have to watch the drama all the way to the end.

What do reviewers say about this drama? On IMDb it has a rating of 64 per cent, which corresponds to 3.2 stars on Amazon. On the German version of Amazon there are at the moment more than twenty reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.3 stars.

If you ask me, the latter rating is too high, while the former rating is more appropriate. The movie-makers have good intentions, but there are too many clichés in this drama. I am not going to list them here. If you watch the movie, I am sure you will notice them yourself.

This drama is not great; it is not even good. It is just average. And therefore it deserves a rating of three stars.

PS # 1. Bauhausfrauen is a documentary film that was shown on German television (ARD) in 2019 as a companion to the historical drama. The director and writer is Susanne Radelhof. Run time: 29 minutes. It is available on the ARD website.

PS # 2. For more information, see the following books:

** The Spirit of the Bauhaus by Anne Monier and Olivier Gabet (2018)

** Walter Gropius: Visionary Founder of the Bauhaus by Fiona McCarthy (2019)

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