Cordula (1950)

The small village of Übelbach in 1917: The war has been going on for three years, and waitress Cordula is especially worried. She loved the forester Fleps, who is now at the front. She confesses to the priest that some time ago she visited him in Vienna while he was on leave from the front. Now she is pregnant, and she wrote to Fleps about it. She has heard nothing from him since. The priest encourages her. Fleps unexpectedly appears in the village; he can stay for only one day. He is an ensign and boasts at the inn about his exploits at the front. Glazier Crinis slaps him, having lost both his sons at the front. Fleps wants to report Crinis to gendarme Kirbisch, but only Kirbisch’s wife Käthe is at home. Fleps flirts with Käthe. He then returns to the inn, where Cordula is waiting for him. The two talk things through. Fleps says he will take responsibility for the unborn child after the war, though he makes no promises to Cordula about their future, since he does not know whether he will be able to support a family after the war. It is Corpus Christi, and the district commissioner arrives in town. He realizes that the wartime regulations are by no means being observed in Übelbach and that the residents are feasting as they did in peacetime. He orders gendarme Kirbisch to crack down; otherwise, he will have him conscripted to the front. While Kirbisch is now cracking down and often away from home, his wife and Fleps begin an affair, which they maintain, among other ways, by arranging meetings through the mail. From an envelope left lying around, Cordula realizes that Käthe and Fleps are secretly writing to each other. Innkeeper Pschunder has big plans for Übelbach: he advertises meals like those served in peacetime, thereby bringing summer visitors to the village. The village is also home to Vitus, who is intellectually disabled and looks after the mayor’s horses. He has deep trust in Cordula. She is therefore horrified when she learns that Vitus is to be sent off to the poorhouse because he frightens the summer visitors. Soon afterward, when Fleps appears at the inn with the Kirbisch couple, Cordula faints. Rumors spread through the village that Cordula is pregnant by Vitus. Meanwhile, the priest is crushed by a community that is becoming increasingly profit-driven and godless. Kirbisch intercepts a letter from Fleps to his wife and now knows that his wife is cheating on him. He volunteers for the front. For the village festival, the people of Übelbach plan a prank on Cordula and Vitus. They tell Vitus that he is going to marry Cordula, dress him up, and lead him onto the festival stage. When some men go to fetch Cordula, she cannot be found. She has fled in time to friends in the village. As the war draws to a close, all the able-bodied men of Übelbach are drafted, while Cordula gives birth to her son. She visits the priest once more before leaving Übelbach to seek her fortune in the city.