Das Märchen von der Zauberflöte (2023)

Tamino, who pretends to be a prince from Djinnistan, and Papageno are friends. Papageno tries to catch birds, but he is unsuccessful. Together with Tamino, he runs confidence tricks, such as claiming at an inn that he can make everyone dance with his flute playing. Papageno introduces Tamino as a prince from a distant land, and Tamino promises a little bag of money—which he even hands over in advance—if he cannot make the people dance. Thanks to the magic of his flute, everyone who has not plugged their ears starts dancing, while Papageno steals their purses. But at the inn where they first arrive, there are servants of the Queen of the Night who have plugged their ears. They arrest Tamino and Papageno and take them before their mistress. The Queen of the Night tells Tamino that Sarastro, her rival, whom she portrays as evil and power-hungry, had Pamina, her daughter, abducted. This abduction is also shown at the beginning of the film. She now commissions Tamino, with Papageno as his companion and the help of the magic flute, to rescue Pamina and bring her the sevenfold Circle of the Sun, an amulet worn by Sarastro. As a reward, she promises Tamino her daughter’s hand in marriage. While the two young men set out for Sarastro’s castle, Pamina manages to escape from Monostatos, Sarastro’s chief servant. Pursued by Monostatos and two guards, Pamina flees into the forest between the Realm of Night and the Realm of the Sun. There she meets Papageno and Tamino and asks them for help. With his flute, Tamino makes Monostatos and the guards dance, and the three of them—Pamina, Papageno, and Tamino—escape to the Queen of the Night’s castle. At first, they are welcomed warmly. But when Tamino cannot hand over the sun amulet, since they had not needed to rescue Pamina from Sarastro’s castle after all, the Queen reveals her true nature. It turns out that she is Pamina’s stepmother, and she orders Tamino to obtain the amulet of the sevenfold Circle of the Sun for her, or he will get nothing. Since Tamino has already developed feelings for Pamina, and she feels the same way, he obeys. Papageno, who had already refused to go with him the first time, initially refuses again, but eventually lets himself be persuaded when Tamino tells him that otherwise he will never impress a potential sweetheart. The Queen sets out with her entourage as well. Before a tunnel guarded by three supposedly invincible beasts, they catch up with Tamino and Papageno. The Queen forces Tamino to enchant the beasts with his flute and drive them away, enabling her to pass through—but not before leaving the two friends behind, bound up along the path. There she finds Pamina, who has fled her stepmother’s palace to warn Sarastro. Pamina has by now discovered that it is the Queen of the Night who lusts only for power, not Sarastro, as her stepmother has repeatedly told her. Sarastro is a wise but old man who wants to protect the world from eternal darkness. To do so, he needs Pamina, the daughter of his predecessor. The three of them—Pamina, Tamino, and Papageno—now look for a way to Sarastro’s castle. In a cave, they must pass through a magical gate, first through water and then through fire. Tamino, who as a child had to witness his parents die in a fire, is terrified of fire and passes the trial by fire only thanks to the friendship of Papageno and Pamina. He had managed to save his flute back then. It is the only memento he has of his parents. After the two trials, the gate becomes a passage to Sarastro’s castle. Inside the castle, they meet a young cook who turns out to be Papagena, Papageno’s destined companion. Papagena helps the trio, using a frying pan as a weapon. In Sarastro’s throne room, the final battle between darkness and light begins: Tamino raises his flute to play, but the Queen destroys it with a blue fireball from her Amulet of the Night. When the situation seems hopeless because Sarastro is too old and weak, and Monostatos has sided with the Queen, Papageno gives Tamino his flute and tells him that the magic is within him. Tamino plays Papageno’s flute, and sure enough, the Queen and her henchmen, including Monostatos, start dancing! Pamina, Papagena, and Papageno, who have plugged their ears in time, are able to take them into custody. The Queen is deposed when the Amulet of the Night is wrested from her, and she must go to the dungeon along with her henchmen and Monostatos. Pamina becomes Sarastro’s successor as High Priestess of the Sun, and Tamino can be happy with her. Papageno and his Papagena also find each other; she turns out to be the yellow bird that has repeatedly helped Papageno in her own way since the very beginning, and that Papageno had tried to catch at the start.