Bernhard Minetti

  • Leni Riefenstahl – Tiefland (1954)

    1951-1960GermanyLeni RiefenstahlMusicalRomance

    After spending the 1930s as the Third Reich’s principal cinematic chronicler, Leni Riefenstahl returned to fictional films with Tiefland. According to Riefenstahl, she had refused to make any more propaganda pictures–“for good reasons,” she explained enigmatically–choosing instead to direct a period romance, based on an old Spanish play and opera by Eugen d’Albert. Riefenstahl cast herself as the central character, Marta, a Spanish dancer who becomes the romantic bone of contention between humble shepherd Franz Eichberger and imperious marquis Bernhard Minetti. While the material seems to cry out for music, Riefenstahl plays the story straight, though much of the acting can certainly be described as operatic.Read More »

  • Peter Handke – Die Linkshändige Frau AKA The Left-Handed Woman (1978)

    1971-1980ArthouseDramaGermanyPeter Handke


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    S y n o p s i s
    A woman living in the Paris suburbs struggles with a loveless marriage and apathy toward her family and friends as she spends her days quietly wandering about her house. Austrian playwright and novelist Peter Handke contributed screenplays to a number of films by director Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick). Here (in a film that Wenders produced), he provides both the scenario (adapting his novel of the same name) and direction for this meditative examination of domestic ennui.Read More »

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