Der Seerosenteich (2003)

Luisendorf, 1967: Isabelle Corthen grows up as the daughter of Ida, a housekeeper, in the Hamburg villa of cloth merchant Carl Trakenberg. Along with the family’s daughter, Vivien Trakenberg, and the children’s friend Jon Rix, she plays hide-and-seek in the park and the house. When Isabelle’s mother catches the little girl among Mrs. Trakenberg’s expensive clothes, she sternly reprimands her. Isabelle tries to point out that Vivien does it too, whereupon Mrs. Corthen replies that it is quite different for Vivien, who is at home in the villa. mini|300px|Water Lilies, 1906, Art Institute of Chicago. The painting by Claude Monet that Isabelle buys at auction New York, 2002: An elegant woman gets out of a taxi and attends an art auction with her assistant, George. The most expensive work is announced: Claude Monet’s The Water Lily Pond, with a minimum bid of 12 million dollars. Although Isabelle Corthen—she is the woman—had actually intended to bid no more than 18 million dollars, she wins the painting with her highest bid of 22 million. She confesses to George, with a dreamy look, that she would have paid any price for it—almost any price. Back in her comfortable New York apartment, she wants to be alone with the painting and let its magic wash over her. The painting brings back memories of Jon, the love of her life, and her childhood near Hamburg, where she grew up to become a successful fashion designer. Her thoughts go back to 1979, to her mother and to the day Erich, a neighbor of the Trakenbergs, tells her that he is her father. Her mother had wanted her not to find out, and he had made sure that she and her mother were taken in by the Trakenbergs. He had wished for a different solution. Now he is very ill and does not have much time left, so her mother is going with him. Saying that she will always love her, Isabelle’s mother, Ida, leaves the Trakenberg estate with Erich. Isabelle does not yet suspect that the two of them intend to die together. When she learns of it, she is completely distraught and sits for hours on a roof in the pouring rain. Only her friend Jon, alerted by the cook, Gretel Burmönken, can persuade her to come down. Luisendorf, 1980: Puppe Mandel, a German fashion designer famous beyond the country’s borders, is a guest at the Trakenbergs’ home. Isabelle is completely fascinated by her and by what she does. Jon, meanwhile, with whom she is now in a relationship and who is studying medicine, imagines a future together with Isabelle. One day, when Isabelle and Vivien go to the lake to ice-skate, Vivien falls through the ice. Isabelle tries to help her and falls through as well. With their last strength, they manage to reach the shore. Vivien’s father, Carl, says that since Isabelle saved his daughter, she may have one wish. Isabelle wishes for a dress from Puppe Mandel’s collection. She tells the designer that she would like to work for her. Gretel Burmönken, now Isabelle’s guardian, is initially opposed, saying that it is a job for the rich, but eventually agrees. Mandel’s studio is very unconventional, though the work Isabelle has to do is not quite what she had imagined. When Isabelle complains, Gretel simply says, “Apprenticeship years are no master’s years.” Hamburg, 1982: Isabelle asks Jon whether love lasts a lifetime. His answer is, “It is the other way around: our life lasts in love.” By chance, Isabelle goes to a bar with fashion photographer Remo Winter. He says he will be returning to Paris soon and suggests that she come with him. The following evening, Jon cannot keep a date with Isabelle because his sick mother has taken sleeping pills. Isabelle is troubled by the presence of the young Helen, who works in the Rix household and looks after Jon’s mother, and is therefore with Jon more than Isabelle herself is. Then comes the evening when Isabelle gives herself to Remo, and afterward runs away, horrified by what she has done. Her apprenticeship now over, she turns down Puppe Mandel’s offer to keep working for her and decides to seek her professional fortune in Paris. She writes Jon a letter saying that she has done something she cannot forgive herself for, that she has to go far away and stay away forever. She will have to deal with what she has done on her own. Hamburg, 2002: Jon returns from a medical conference and is met at the station by his wife, Helen. A newspaper catches his eye: it shows Isabelle on the front page under the headline, “Belle Corthen—Fashion Queen Loves Water Lily Painting.” When Helen finds the paper at home, she tells Jon that he is still thinking about Isabelle and simply cannot forget her. Isabelle wants to look at a house in the Hamptons, a haven for the super-rich, because she is searching for a suitable place for the painting. Her thoughts return to Paris in 1983. After a long wait to get appointments with some of the most sought-after fashion designers, Isabelle’s designs meet with approval from none of the big names—quite the opposite. After moving out of Remo’s place because she does not want to take part in his promiscuous sex life, she receives a call from Jon, who is in Paris and wants to see her. Jon barely recognizes her; there is no longer any talk of a future together. After a conversation that disappoints him, he sadly says goodbye to Isabelle. With nothing but rejections, Isabelle has hardly any money left for everyday necessities. At such a moment, Puppe Mandel appears at her door with a generous offer: she wants to groom Isabelle as her successor. Luisendorf, 1985: Not only Gretel but also Carl Trakenberg welcomes Isabelle back into the family fold. One of the first places Isabelle goes is the water lily pond where she often swam with Jon. When she calls him, his father answers and says that they will all be at St. John’s Church tomorrow morning at ten. When Isabelle goes there, she sees Jon and his bride, Helen, coming out of the church. Helen notices her and embraces Jon in such a way that he cannot see Isabelle. Without making herself known, Isabelle leaves. She now throws herself into creating her own collection so she can make it big. Her fashion line will be called “Belle Corthen,” a name that sprang from Puppe Mandel’s imagination. The first presentation of the collection is a huge success. Isabelle also spots Jon in the audience, but he leaves the show without contacting her. Isabelle is now the new star of the fashion world and presents her collections around the globe. While in Paris, she unexpectedly runs into Jon, who is there for a medical congress. That evening Isabelle visits him in his hotel room. They sleep together. The deep feelings they have for each other have always been there. Hamburg, 1999: Two years earlier, there had already been disagreements over the cost of the expensive materials Isabelle uses for her collection. Now the fashion designer storms into Vivien Trakenberg’s office, furious after discovering that the Trakenberg cloth factory is selling off cheap goods under her name, as she calls them. At a meeting of the shareholders of Trakenberg Works, now run by Carl Trakenberg alongside Vivien and her husband, Peter Ansaldi, Carl—who Isabelle has always been able to count on—takes the side of his daughter and son-in-law. Puppe Mandel, who is also present, sides with Isabelle and says she finds the whole thing appalling. It is not their way, nor their style of dealing with people. Although Puppe has been Carl Trakenberg’s lover for many years, at this moment he sides with his family, opposing not only Isabelle but Puppe as well. Isabelle draws the consequences and leaves the Trakenbergs, who are now no longer allowed to use her name in their advertising. This does not harm her career, while the Trakenbergs do not cope as well with the loss. In New York, where Isabelle has moved, she succeeds in building her own fashion empire. One day she receives news that Gretel Burmönken has died. Naturally, she travels to Europe to attend the funeral of the woman who had been a mother to her. Jon is also at the memorial service. As Isabelle stands at Gretel’s grave, she remembers Gretel’s warning when she left for Paris. It weighed on Gretel’s soul, she had said, that Isabelle had not once visited her mother’s grave. That was no way to leave. It harmed the soul. Desperate, Isabelle runs off and searches for the grave in the pouring rain. Jon, who has followed her, points her in the right direction. Isabelle says she never wanted to become like her mother. Jon replies that she succeeded—no, she is like her mother: she, too, is separated from the man she loves. Jon talks to his wife and tells her he is going to leave her. He knows it is deeply unfair to her, but he has to do it; he cannot do otherwise. Jon searches for Isabelle and finds her holed up in her house in the Hamptons. “You found me,” is all she can say as they stand facing each other.