Das Sacher: In bester Gesellschaft – a mini-series in two parts – is a historical drama which premiered on Austrian and German television in 2016.
The topic is the history of Hotel Sacher in Vienna, one of the most famous hotels in Austria.
Here is some basic information about this historical drama:
** English title: The Sacher: A Tale of Doom and Seduction
** Producers: Oliver Auspitz, Oliver Berben, Sarah Kirkegaard, and Andreas Kamm
** Director: Robert Dornheim
** Writer: Rodica Döhnert
** Musical score composed by Roman Kariolou
** Language: German
** Released on DVD in 2017
** Part 1 = 97 minutes
** Part 2 = 102 minutes
** Total run time = 199 minutes
The cast includes the following:
** Ursula Strauss as Anna Sacher (born Fuchs)
** Florian Stetter as Maximilian Aderhold
** Julia Koschitz as Martha Aderhold
** Laurence Rupp as Hans-Georg von Traunstein
** Josefine Preuss as Konstanze von Traunstein
** Robert Stadtlober as Fritz Lechner – a police detective
** Jasna Fritzi Bauer as Marie Stadler
** Robert Palfrader as Mayr – a hotel receptionist
** Bernhard Schir as Julius Schuster
Hotel Sacher was founded in 1876 by Eduard Sacher, whose father Franz Sacher had invented the Sacher Torte (the famous Sacher Cake) in 1832.
In 1880, he married Anna Fuchs who became Anna Sacher. Eduard was the owner and the manager of the hotel. He was the front man. Anna worked in the background where she played an important role.
When Eduard died suddenly in 1892, many people expected that the hotel would be sold off, but Anna did not agree with this idea. She wanted to be the next manager of the hotel. At the time such an idea was unheard of: a woman could not be a manager. A woman could not run a business.
But Anna had friends in high places. She contacted them and asked them to help her, which they did. After three years, Anna was able to secure the concession to run the Sacher Hotel in her own name. Under her management, Hotel Sacher became the most famous hotel in Vienna, and one of the most famous hotels in Austria.
As stated above, this historical drama is divided into two parts:
** Part one covers six years (1892-1898)
This is the time from Eduard’s death to the assassination of the Austrian Empress Elisabeth, who was known to the world as Sissi (or Sisi).
** Part two covers twenty years (1898-1918)
This is the time from the death of Sissi to the end of World War One.
When we see the title Das Sacher, we assume this historical drama is about the famous hotel in Vienna. Unfortunately, this is not really the case.
It is the story of two couples – four fictional characters – who meet each other in the famous hotel, but most of their lives take place in other locations:
The Aderhold couple, who plan to open a publishing house, live in Berlin (the capital of Germany), while the von Traunstein couple live on a large estate in Hungary.
Anna Sacher, who is a real historical person, appears in the movie, but she plays only a secondary role. The history of Anna and her hotel is merely an excuse for telling us the story of the two couples.
Taken by itself, the story of the two couples is not bad at all. It is a fictional story placed in a historical context. In this case, the context is the double monarchy of Austria and Hungary shortly before and after the year 1900.
The script is well-written and the actors play their roles well. The costumes are convincing and the cinematography is excellent.
The problem is the title of the drama which is quite misleading. Because Anna Sacher is a secondary character and her hotel is merely used as a setting for the story of the four fictional characters.
What do reviewers say about this drama?
On IMDb it has a rating of 62 per cent, which corresponds to a rating of three stars on Amazon. If you ask me, this rating is too low.
On the German version of Amazon there are at the moment 470 ratings of this product. The average rating is 4.5 stars. The reviews are mixed. Many are positive, but a few are negative.
Most of the negative reviews complain about the title. The reviewers say it is misleading. They say it is a shame this drama does not offer what the title seems to promise. I have to agree with them.
As a period piece about life in the double monarchy of Austria and Hungary shortly before and after the year 1900, this drama is quite good. I wish that the people behind the drama had chosen another - more appropriate - title for their product.
I like this drama and I want to give it a good rating, but I have to remove one star because of the highly misleading title. Therefore, I think it deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
PS # 1. Die Königin von Wien – Anna Sacher und ihr Hotel is a documentary film which premiered on German television (ZDF) in January 2017. This film is a good biography of Anna Sacher and her famous hotel.
** Director: Beate Thalberg
** Run time: 43 minutes
PS # 2. Robert Dornheim is the director of several television movies, including the English-language movie Identity Theft: The Michelle Brown Story which premiered in 2004.
PS # 3. Rodica Döhnert, Oliver Berben, and Josefine Preuss worked together on a similar project a few years ago:
Das Adlon – Eine Familiensaga (2013)
This project – a mini-series in three parts – is true to its title: it covers the history of the famous hotel in Berlin. It is a shame they could not do the same for Hotel Sacher in Vienna.
PS # 4. Legendäre Hotels, Geschichte, Glanz und Gloria is a documentary film which premiered on German television (ZDF) in December 2023.
This film covers the history of five famous hotels: Das Adlon in Berlin, Das Sacher in Vienna, the Beau Rivage in Geneva, The Ritz in Paris, and Dreesen Rheinhotel in Bad Godesberg near Bonn. Run time: 44 minutes.
PS # 5. The following book is available in German:
Anna Sacher und ihr Hotel:
Im Wien der Jahrhundertwende
by Monika Czernin
(Hardcover 2014)
(Paperback 2016)
PS # 6. The following book is available in English:
Hotel Sacher, Wien
by Andreas Augustin
(2008)
*****
Anna Sacher
(1859-1930)
(Wife of Eduard Sacher 1880-1892)
*****
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