An unforgettable evokation of the city, its feel, life, ambience, air. Unforgettable photography of one of the most often-depicted places on earth. Dramatically, there is a sentimental side to the story that is both disconcerting and perfectly APT: why else would despair exist, if it weren't for the dreariness of people? Vienna's mortality, too, is the fountainhead of art. What greater love?
Add a Review
-
Aulic Exclusiva6 January 2002
-
Horst_In_Translation22 February 2017"Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald" is a co-production between West Germany and Austria that resulted in this German-language movie (with heavy Austrian accents) from 1979. So this one will soon have its 40th anniversary. The star here is the director (also one of the writers) Maximilian Schell. He is an Academy award winner and worked on the script here with Christopher Hampton, another Oscar winner. The outcome is pretty underwhelming for this though. The film runs for 90 minutes and features a handful somewhat known actors if you have an interest in German/Austrian movies. Lead actress is the late Birgit Doll in her very first film performance and one of the supporting actresses is Lil Dagover in her very last performance. Also on board are Heller, Glowna and Schell has a little cameo too. The summary here on IMDb gives a decent description of this film, namely what happens when a young woman falls in love with a man, gives birth and has to face several struggles afterward, so the subject is basically one that also exists very frequently in the 21st century, even if this film was decades ago and depicts an even older era, even before the years of Nazi Germany/Austria.
I myself was not too entertained by this one. i felt that they perhaps included too many characters without really elaborating properly on most of these. This film was sure lacking in depth. Beyond that, I also found none of the performances really mesmerizing. Two (the butcher e.g.) were decent, but probably also only stood out because the rest was so mediocre and forgettable and not really because they were any good. I am a bit baffled by this films awards attention. It must have to do with the name Schell attached to it that people noticed it so much. Shame on the German Film Awards for honoring all this mediocrity. I liked the music somewhat, but these were all no original pieces, so I can't credit the makers here either really. The only one who got it right was the Academy who did not not nominate Austria's official submission for an Oscar eventually. Judging from what I see here, I think Schell is far better in front of the camera than behind it. I will check out some of his other directing efforts in the upcoming weeks and I really hope they are better than this one here. Thumbs down for "Tales from the Vienna Woods".