Egon Schiele: Tod und Mädchen (2016)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Egon Schiele: Tod und Mädchen is a historical and biographical drama which premiered at the Zurich Film Festival in 2016.

 

The topic is the life and work of the Austrian artist Egon Schiele.

 

Here is some basic information about this drama:

 

** English title: Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden

** Director: Dieter Berner

** Writers: Dieter Berner and Hilde Berger

** Based on the book Egon Schiele: Tod und Mädchen by Hilde Berger (2009)

** Language: German

** Run time: 104 minutes

 

The cast includes the following:

 

** Noah Saavedra as Egon Schiele (born 12 June 1890) (died 31 October 1918) – an artist

** Maresi Riegner as Gertrud (Gerti) (1894-1981) – Egon’s sister - wife of Anton Peschka (married 1914-1940)

** Larissa Aimée Breidbach as Moa Mandu – an artist and a dancer – Egon’s model and mistress

** Valerie Pachner as Walburga (Wally) Neuzil (1894-1917) – a nurse - Egon’s model and mistress 1911-1915

** Marie Jung as Edith Harms (born 04 March 1893) (died 28 October 1918) – Egon’s wife (married 1915-1918)

** Elisabeth Umlauft as Adele Harms – sister of Edith – Egon’s sister-in-law

** Thomas Schubert as Anton Peschka (1885-1940) – an artist – a painter – Gerti’s husband (married 1914-1940)

** Daniel Strässer as Erwin Dominik (Dom) Osen (1891-1971) - an artist

** Cornelius Obonya as Gustav Klimt (born 14 July 1862) (died 06 February 1918) – an artist – Egon’s mentor

 

In this drama, the life and work of the Austrian artist Egon Schiele is covered in great detail.

 

In this drama, we follow his life and work from 1910 until his death in 1918, with special focus on the five women who play a significant role in his short life:

 

(1) Gerti Schiele - his sister

(2) Moa Mandu - an artist and a dancer – his model and mistress

(3) Wally Neuzil – a nurse - his model and mistress

(4) Edith Harms – his wife

(5) Adele Harms – his sister-in-law

 

Egon Schiele is a famous artist. He is also a highly controversial artist.

 

Gustav Klimt is his mentor. His early works are clearly inspired by Klimt.

 

Later, he develops his own style. It is new and different. Some people love it; others hate it. He is adored and loved by some; hated by others.

 

He is a soldier in World War One. He survives the war. But he does not survive the Spanish Flu, which kills millions of soldiers and civilians all over the world.

 

Egon Schiele and his wife Edith Harms are among the numerous victims of this pandemic, which is active all over the world for two years (1918-1920).

 

What about the title of the drama?

Tod und Mädchen

In English:

Death and the Maiden

What does it mean?

 

The title of the drama (and the title of the book on which the drama is based) is borrowed from a painting which shows two persons: a man and a girl. The girl is Wally.

 

Egon makes this painting in 1915, two years before Wally dies. The original title is Man and Maiden.

 

In 1917, when Egon receives a message telling him that Wally has died – she was killed by scarlet fever - he changes the first word. Now the title is:

 

Death and the Maiden

 

What do reviewers say about this drama?

 

Here are some results:

 

On IMDb it has a rating of 65 percent.

 

On Amazon there are at the moment more than 180 ratings of this product, including more than 30 with reviews.

 

The average rating is 4.4 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 88 percent.

 

In my opinion, the first rating is too low, while the second rating is too high.

 

I like this drama and I want to give it a good rating, but I cannot go all the way to the top, because there is a flaw.

 

What is wrong?

 

There are many characters in this drama, but it is not easy to figure out who is who and how they are connected with each other.

 

When the characters meet each other, they do not always address each other by name, because they already know each other. But the viewer does not know them.

 

The viewer wants to know who is who and how they are connected with each other. It takes a while to find out who is who.

 

Sometimes a character appears and disappears again before the viewer has a chance to find out who this person is. This is most unfortunate.

 

Whenever a new chapter begins; whenever the story moves to a new location, an on-screen message tells us where we are in time and place. This is very helpful.

 

This method can also be used to identify a character. An on-screen message can appear whenever a character appears on the screen for the first time.

 

This message can identify the person with a name and perhaps with an occupation. This is an easy way to solve this problem. Unfortunately, this solution was not used here. This is a flaw.

 

I have to remove one star because of this flaw. I think this product deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).

 

REFERENCES

 

# 1. Books

 

Egon Schiele: Love and Death

By Jane Kallir

(2005)

 

Egon Schiele: Masterpieces of Art

By Rosalind Ormiston

(2016)

 

Schiele

By Reinhard Steiner

(2017)

 

Egon Schiele: The Complete Paintings

By Tobias Gunter Natter

(2017)

 

The Flames

By Sophie Haydock

(2022)

 

This volume is about the four women who pose for Egon and who play a significant role in his life. They are his muses. They are his flames. The author Sophie Haydock does not count Egon's sister Gerti. 

 

# 2. Film and video

 

Egon Schiele: Between Love and Hate

A documentary film which premiered in 2018

** Director = Herbert Eisenschenck

** Run time = 58 minutes

 

*****

Egon Schiele:

Death and the Maiden

A historical and biographical drama

which premiered in 2016

 

*****

Egon Schiele:

Tod und Mädchen

A historical and biographical novel

By Hilde Berger

(2009)

 

*****

The famous and controversial

Austrian artist

Egon Schiele

(1890-1928)

This photo shows him in 1914

when he is 24 years old

 

*****

 

Die Deutschen und die Polen (2016)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Die Deutschen und die Polen: Geschichte einer Nachbarschaft is a documentary film in four parts which premiered on German television (ZDF) in 2016.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** English title: The Germans and the Poles:

The History of a Neighbourship

** Written, produced and directed by Andrzej Klamt, Zofia Kunert, and Gordian Maugg

** Narrated by Nick Benjamin

** Historical consultants: Dr Peter Oliver Loew and Professor Krzysztof Ruchniewicz

** Language: German – no English subtitles!

** Released on DVD in 2016

** Run time: 4 x 45 minutes = 180 minutes

 

As stated above, there are four episodes.

 

Here are the headlines in English:

 

# 1. Peace and War:

Neighbours during 1,000 Years

# 2. Enemies and Friends:

From the Partitions to the European Union

# 3. Connected by Fate:

Germans, Poles, and Jews

# 4. Breslau//Wroclaw:

1,000 Years in the Centre of Europe

 

Episodes # 1 and 2 follow a chronological line: old history in # 1 and recent history in # 2.

 

Episode # 3 takes another approach. This episode is about three ethnic groups - Germans, Poles, and Jews – and the focus is mostly on the 20th century.

 

Episode # 4 takes a geographical approach. This time the focus is on one city: Breslau is the German name; Wroclaw is the Polish name.

 

It was in German territory for many years, but now it is in Polish territory. This episode covers the history of the town during 1,000 years.

 

Each episode has the same structure:

 

(A) We have the talking heads, mostly historians. Some are German, while others are Polish.

(B) Between the talking heads we have old footage and new footage. The latter is always in colour.

(C) Finally, there are some reconstructions. Some historical moments have been re-created with modern actors.

 

The narrator speaks when we have the old footage or the new footage; and sometimes when we have a reconstruction.

 

The combination of the different elements makes a good variation.

 

The cinematography is excellent. When we have new footage, the colours are bright and the pictures are sharp. The filmmakers have done a lot of work in order to find all the right locations in Germany and in Poland.

 

If you are interested in European history – in particular the history of Germany and Poland – this product is definitely something for you.

 

How many stars can it get? In my opinion, the film itself deserves five stars, but the DVD deserves only four stars. Why? Because there are no subtitles, neither in German nor in English.

 

Some of the talking heads speak German, but others speak Polish. When a Polish witness appears, the original sound is muted and the statement is read in German by an actor. In other words: the statements of the Polish witnesses are dubbed into German.

 

This is wrong. I want to hear the Polish witness speaking in his or her own language. The statement should be covered by German subtitles. But this is not what we have here.

 

This is a common problem with German television: the only language spoken is German.

 

When German television shows a foreign movie or a foreign television show, it is dubbed into German.

 

James Bond (agent 007) speaks German when he appears in Germany!

 

When German television shows a foreign documentary film, it is dubbed into German.

 

This is wrong.

 

For two reasons:

 

(1) Dubbing is much more expensive than adding subtitles.

(2) The viewers hear only their own language. They never hear anything else. This is a common problem in large countries.

 

In smaller countries - such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden - subtitles are used all the time.

 

Nobody complains, because viewers are used to hearing a foreign language. And they are often better at foreign languages than people who live in a large country where only one language is used in movies and on television.

 

The DVD should have optional German subtitles for those who are deaf or hard of hearing and it should have optional English subtitles for export to the rest of the world.

 

Listening to a foreign language while reading subtitles in a language you understand is a great way to improve your knowledge of this foreign language.

 

This product is good, but not great, because there is a flaw: there are no subtitles. This product deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).

 

PS. This is the companion book to the film:

 

Die Deutschen und die Polen:

Geschichte einer Nachbarschaft

Edited by Dieter Bingen, Hans-Jürgen Bömelburg, Andrzej Klamt, and Peter Oliver Loew

(Theiss, 2016)

 

*****

Die Deutschen und die Polen:

Geschichte einer Nachbarschaft

A documentary film in four parts which 

premiered on German television (ZDF)

in 2016

 

*****

 Die Deutschen und die Polen:

Geschichte einer Nachbarschaft

This is the companion book to the film

Published by Theiss in 2016

 

*****