Der Weg ins Freie (1941)

The landowner Detlev von Blossin and the opera singer Antonia Corvelli have been married for more than a year. The Baron and his wife agreed that, as soon as her current engagement was over, they would finally return together to his estate in Pomerania. Baroness von Blossin is eagerly awaiting her son and daughter-in-law, but doubts that the famous singer will feel at home in the seclusion of the family estate. She tells their distant relative Luise that two different worlds would collide. Antonia Corvelli, who has always been able to make her husband give in to her wishes, has renewed her contract without his knowledge. When the Baron finds out, he leaves the theater without a word, furious. The next day, von Blossin tells his wife that, after more than a year away, he must return to his estate. She had promised to go with him, and now she has broken her promise again. This time Antonia cannot change her husband's mind. At the family estate, the Baron is joyfully welcomed by his mother, though her disappointment and worry that he has arrived without his wife are plain to see. Detlev tells the Baroness that Antonia still has things to attend to in Vienna and will follow later. Meanwhile, the people of Vienna take to the streets to protest Prince Metternich's corrupt economic practices. The shady Count Stefan Oginski, who bears some responsibility as Metternich's financial adviser, is dismayed to learn that Metternich has fled and that rioters are ransacking his house. Antonia, who was once involved with the adventurer, feels obliged to stand by her former lover in this situation and gives him refuge in her home in Vienna. The unrest has not gone unnoticed even in the seclusion of the Blossin estate in Pomerania, and some men intend to use it as an opportunity to incite Blossin's workers. However, the Baron sets things straight in his own unassuming way. Luise, who had run the estate with his mother while Blossin was away, remains by his side. Even Achim, the district administrator's son, who had hoped to win the charming young woman, must realize that she feels more for von Blossin than friendship. Because of the help she has given Oginski, Antonia herself gets into trouble in Vienna. The Count does not even hesitate to call her his accomplice and extort money from her. He also wants her to flee with him. The singer's confidante, her devoted Barbaccia, advises Antonia to fake her own death when, in despair, Antonia says Oginski will always cling to her, will not let her go, and will find her wherever she goes. And so it happens. Just as Luise has resolved to leave the estate, the Baron's circumstances change dramatically. After von Blossin has gone several weeks without hearing from Antonia, he tells his mother that his wife will have to come of her own accord if things between them are ever to be put right. Shortly afterward, the district administrator informs the Baron that Antonia is said to have drowned herself in the Danube Canal. He tells his mother that he has learned things about Antonia that he wants to tell her, but that they must never speak of them again afterward. Antonia, who traveled to Switzerland with Barbaccia after faking her death and has been living there for some time, is courted by the Swiss man Müetli. He tells her about his wife and says that a man can forgive a woman he loves anything. The opera diva takes heart again and puts off her planned onward journey to Italy so she can visit her husband at his estate. Perhaps everything can still turn out well, she tells Barbaccia. At the estate she is received by Luise, who tells her how much the Baron suffered in the past because the police informed him that his wife had been involved with another man. He has only just recovered, Luise says, so Antonia should please spare him an encounter with his past. Antonia does not reveal her identity, introducing herself instead as an old friend from Vienna. While she waits, an employee tells her that everyone at the estate hopes that, once the year of mourning is over, Miss Luise will become more than a distant relative. So, with a heavy heart, the singer decides to leave the estate without making any further contact. As the carriage drives away, she weeps bitterly on Barbaccia's shoulder. Six years have now passed, and Antonia is singing at a small theater in Italy under the name Giulietta. They are rehearsing “Rigoletto” when word comes that the role of the Duke of Mantua will be sung that evening by the famous Tamaso Rezzi. Antonia is startled, for of course she knows the singer. Barbaccia assures her, however, that she will make her up so that he will not recognize her. “O wie so trügerisch sind Frauenherzen” (“Oh, how deceitful are women's hearts”) rings out from the stage that evening to tremendous applause. Then comes Antonia's duet with Rezzi. She is so afraid of running into former opera colleagues again that she decides to flee once more. As chance would have it, Oginski hears from Rezzi that in Bergamo he had shared the stage with a woman whose appearance and voice had been astonishingly like the great Corvelli's; he had felt as though he were performing with her again. Antonia is now performing in a tavern because she fears the opera stage. Oginski finds her there. He tells the singer that her husband has remarried and even has a child. It soon becomes clear that he intends to blackmail her and exploit the fact that her husband is a bigamist. Antonia cannot talk him out of it. The next day, when she is told that the Count has left, she suspects he is on his way to Blossin to blackmail him. She decides to travel to Mecklenburg as well. But Oginski has already reached the Baron and told him that Antonia is still alive. He tries to extort money from von Blossin, even pretending to be acting on the singer's behalf. Von Blossin orders him off the estate. Antonia has meanwhile arrived at the estate too. She meets the Blossins' young son and, shortly afterward, Luise. Antonia tells Luise everything and promises that Oginski will not destroy her happiness; she will see to that. Tomorrow, everything will be different. Then she drives away. At the small inn where she is staying, she tears up the Baron's love letters, so precious to her. Luise tells von Blossin about Antonia's visit and what she said, and he fears the worst. He hurries to the inn as fast as he can. The doctor there lets him into the room where the dying woman lies. She has taken poison and makes the Baron promise that no one must know who she really is, because otherwise it will all have been for nothing. It is immensely difficult for von Blossin to disown Antonia, but he grants her this final heartfelt wish. As he leaves the room, Antonia's arm drops limply. She is dead.