Chapeau Claque (1974)

The film begins with Hanno Giessen stepping outside his house and reciting Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem “Autumn Day.” Hanno Giessen is 33 years old, unmarried, and describes himself as a man of independent means. His ancestors made an immense fortune through the industrial production of the Chapeau Claque (a collapsible top hat), but the company went bankrupt. Hanno lives in seclusion in the English-style country house he managed to save from the bankruptcy estate. He devotes himself to idleness and his passion for collecting. His extensive collection of old objects of all kinds includes enamel advertising signs and, according to Hanno, Europe’s largest collection of rabbit figurines. Hanno Giessen never leaves the house or garden; instead, his suppliers of food, wine, heating oil, and so on come and go in a steady stream. Friends from the business association visit occasionally. Life as a man of independent means allows him to ponder life, dressed exclusively in a succession of ever-changing dressing gowns. While Hanno Giessen is still explaining his daily routine to the viewer, almost 18-year-old Anna moves in with him and spends most of her time strolling through the house and garden naked or scantily dressed. Hanno enjoys his idleness, while Anna starts counting mosquito larvae. Later, with Hanno’s permission, she is allowed to sort collectible picture cards, but before long even this leaves her bored. After Anna becomes Hanno’s bedmate, arguments arise, and she moves out. Hanno displays the collected shards of broken porcelain from this period and continues to ponder life itself, ending with Theodor Fontane’s poem “My Life.”