Das falsche Gewicht (1971)

At his wife’s request, Anselm Eibenschütz resigns from his post as an Austro-Hungarian noncommissioned officer and heads to the abandoned Galician border village of Zlotograd to take up a position as a weights-and-measures inspector. Surrounded by petty crooks, shady businessmen, and cowardly schemers, Eibenschütz tries to enforce the law. He imposes harsh penalties, for example, for using false weights, and as a result everyone in the village hates him. His wife, Regina, begins an affair with Josef Nowak, the inspector’s clerk, and becomes pregnant. She tries to seduce her husband, who has long since turned away from her, in order to cover up the affair. But Eibenschütz, alerted by this, exposes the affair with the help of an anonymous letter and arranges for the clerk to be transferred. From then on, he punishes his wife and the child with silence and contempt. But he, too, begins an unstoppable downward spiral. He abuses his authority to have his rival Jadlowker sent to prison. Jadlowker had run a disreputable tavern together with the Romani woman Euphemia Nikitsch. Eibenschütz had fallen in love with Euphemia at their very first meeting. By a twist of fate, Eibenschütz is appointed by the court as the tavern’s new manager. He now moves in with Euphemia and experiences the first love of his life in bed with her. But when Konstantin Sameschkin, another of Euphemia’s lovers, appears and asserts his rights over her, she leaves Eibenschütz. A devastating cholera epidemic breaks out, claiming the lives of Regina and her child. The prisoner and former tavern keeper Jadlowker is assigned to remove the many corpses and escapes amid the chaos. He lies in wait for Eibenschütz and beats him to death.