Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe is the English title of an Austrian, French and German historical and biographical drama which premiered in 2016.
The main character is the famous Austrian and Jewish author Stefan Zweig.
Here is some basic information about this drama:
** This is a co-production of three countries: Austria, France and Germany
** Original German title: Vor der Morgenröte: Stefan Zweig in Amerika
** Director: Maria Schrader
** Writers: Maria Schrader and Jan Schomburg
** Languages: English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish
** Run time: 106 minutes
The cast includes the following:
The first group
** Josef Hader as Stefan Zweig (1881-1942)
** Barbara Sukowa as Friderike Zweig (1882-1971) – Stefan’s first wife (they were married 1920-1938)
** Aenne Schwarz as Charlotte “Lotte” Zweig (1908-1942) – Stefan’s second wife (they were married 1939-1942)
The second group
** Charly Hübner as Emil Ludwig (1881-1948) – a German and Swiss author
** Ivan Shvedoff as Halpern Leivick (1888-1962) – a Yiddish author, born in Belarus (which was at the time a part of the Russian Empire)
** Matthias Brandt as Ernst Feder (1881-1964) – a German author
Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. This is why I feel free to mention some of them here.
While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown here. But the basic story is true.
As stated above, the main character is Stefan Zweig, but this drama does not cover his whole life from the beginning to the end. It covers only the last six years of his life; the time when he was in exile (1936-1942).
During this time, he moved from place to place. He never stayed long in one place. For a while he lived in the UK (at first in London and later in Bath), but in this drama we do not see him in the UK.
We only see him when he is somewhere on the American continent (North America or South America). Hence the German title of the drama.
We see him in the following four locations:
# 1. Brazil, 1936
# 2. Argentina, 1936
# 3. The US (New York), 1941
# 4. Brazil, 1941 and 1942
During his exile, he wrote several works, including a book about Brazil (The Land of the Future, published 1941) and a short story about chess (The Royal Game).
He also completed his autobiography:
The World of Yesterday
The short story about chess and his autobiography were both published posthumously.
This drama does not offer any background information about the main character or the people around him.
The director assumes the viewer already knows the basic facts about the famous author – his life and his works - and the people around him.
This drama does not show him at work (while he is writing). Instead, we see him in a number of different situations where he meets other people:
** In Brazil, we see him at an official reception in 1936
** In Argentina, we see him attending a PEN International congress in 1936
** In New York, we see him with his first wife Friderike in 1941 (three years after the divorce)
** In Brazil, we see him with his second wife Lotte and with some friends in 1941
The epilogue is about the end of his life. In February 1942, Stefan Zweig and his wife Lotte commit suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills.
His final letter is found and read aloud. But the reason for the double suicide is not discussed or explained. It is up to the viewer to try and understand this event.
Several languages are spoken in this film:
** In Brazil, the local people speak Portuguese.
** In Argentina, the local people speak Spanish.
** In addition, there are a few conversations in English and in French.
** When Stefan Zweig talks to his first wife Friderike or his second wife Lotte or other people from Austria or Germany, they speak German.
In my opinion, this mixture of languages is great, because it is realistic. It is historically correct.
What do reviewers say about this historical drama?
Here are some results:
** 67 percent = IMDb
** 69 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
** 75 percent = Meta
** 93 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
On Amazon there are at the moment more than 70 ratings of this product, more than 20 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.2 stars which corresponds to a rating of 84 percent.
If you ask me, the rating on IMDb is too low, while the second rating on Rotten Tomatoes (the critics) is too high.
In my opinion, the ratings on Meta and Amazon are more appropriate. This film is good, but not great. I think there are two flaws:
# 1. The drama should offer some background information about Stefan Zweig and the people around him. Not a long story, but just enough to let the viewer understand who is who are how they are connected with each other.
# 2. The drama shows Stefan Zweig in exile, but this exile begins in 1934. Not in 1936. The first two years of his exile are excluded. The movie begins in 1936. The time when he is in the UK (1934-1936) is excluded.
If you want to make a historical and biographical drama about the life of the famous author in exile, why not cover the whole story (eight years)? Why cover only the final six years of his life? Why exclude the first two years of his exile?
I like this drama and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see, there are some flaws which cannot be ignored. I have to remove one star because of these flaws.
This is why I think this product deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
PS # 1. Here is
some background information about the main character:
In the beginning of the 20th century, Stefan Zweig was one of the most famous and most popular authors in Austria and Germany where readers could read his works in the original language.
He was also famous and popular in other countries, because his works were often translated into other languages.
But Hitler and the Nazi Party did not like him.
They had two reasons:
(1) He was Jewish
(2) He was a pacifist
In 1933, when Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany, books written by Stefan Zweig were among the books which were banned and burned in public.
In 1934, Stefan Zweig’s home in Salzburg was raided by the Austrian police. After this experience, he decided that it was no longer safe for him to remain in Austria.
He and his wife left the country (which was annexed by Nazi Germany four years later, in 1938). He never saw Austria again. While he was living in exile, it was difficult for him to find a new place to call home.
He almost found a new home in Brazil, but in 1942, when this country was drawn into World War II, as an ally of the US, he decided that there was nowhere left for him to go.
It was perhaps a case of checkmate (to borrow a term from his final short story about chess).
This was perhaps the reason why he decided to take his own life. However, this does not explain why his second wife Lotte decided to follow him and do the same.
PS # 2. PEN International (founded in 1921) is an organisation whose purpose is to defend and support writers all over the world. What do the letters PEN stand for? At first:
P = Poets
E = Essayists
N = Novelists
Later, more professions were added:
P = Poets and playwrights
E = Essayists and editors
N = Novelists
The definition of writers also covers journalists and historians.
PS # 3. In 1936, when Stefan Zweig comes to Argentina, he attends the 14th congress of PEN International held in Buenos Aires. Several speakers talk about the situation in Europe.
More specifically, they condemn Hitler and the Nazi Party for attacking dissident writers and for oppressing freedom of expression in Germany.
They expect Stefan Zweig to join them. They invite him to do this, but to their surprise, he refuses. He says:
“I will not speak out against Germany. I would never speak out against a country. And I will make no exceptions.
“I cannot write out of hatred. And if my silence is a sign of weakness, I am afraid I must live with this stigma.”
PS # 4. Here is a reference:
Jack Fischel,
“Review of The Impossible Exile: Stefan Zweig at the End of the World by George Prochnik (2014),”
Jewish Book Council,
22 May 2014
In the beginning of this review, Jack Fischel writes the following passage:
“Zweig, an assimilated Jew who took pride in his atheism, was forced, along with many Jewish and non-Jewish intellectuals, to leave Vienna after Hitler’s annexation of Austria in 1938, which was followed by the brutal treatment of its Jewish population.”
This passage is flawed.
(1) Zweig left in 1934. He did not leave in 1938, after the German annexation of Astria.
(2) Zweig decided to leave, because he did not like what was happening in Austria. He was not forced out.
Jack Fischel is professor emeritus of history at an American university. It is surprising and disappointing to see a former professor of history write such nonsense about Stefan Zweig in a review of a book about the exile of the famous author!
PS # 5. The following items are available online:
Jochen Kürten,
“Farewell to Europe explores the life of Stefan Zweig,”
Deutsche Welle,
30 May 2016
Kenneth Turan,
“Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe beautifully captures the mysterious life of the once-famed author,”
Los Angeles Times,
15 June 2017
Stuart Jeffries,
“An interview with Maria Schrader,”
The Guardian,
8 December 2017
Sydney Levine,
“Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe
directed by Maria Schrader,”
Medium,
12 August 2021
*****
Vor der Morgenröte:
Stefan Zweig in Amerika
A historical and biographical drama
which premiered in 2016
(German poster with the German title)
*****
The famous Austrian author
Stefan Zweig
(1881-1942)
*****
The World of Yesterday:
Memoirs of a European
By Stefan Zweig
(completed in 1941)
(published posthumously)
*****
The Royal Game:
A Chess Story
By Stefan Zweig
(completed in 1941)
(published posthumously)
*****
