Des Kaisers neue Kleider (1994)

The street boy Tobias befriends Lorenzo, the emperor’s court tailor. Both are displeased by the injustice with which their emperor rules the land. To keep raising enough money for his lavish lifestyle, the emperor constantly increases taxes. One of his passions is having new, expensive garments made for himself every week. His subjects have to provide the money, and as a result they mostly live in great poverty. When Lorenzo learns that the emperor is considering hiring a new fashion designer, he comes up with a plan to teach his master a lesson. He takes Tobias to the palace and hires him as a page. Tobias helps him carry out his daring scheme. Lorenzo makes clothes from scraps of fabric and passes them off as the latest, unsurpassable fashion. The court applauds as the emperor shows off his new clothes, and Lorenzo is knighted. When an accident tears off the right sleeve as the new jacket is being taken off, the emperor likes the idea of wearing a garment with only its left arm covered so much that he orders his entire court to wear only one sleeve from then on. This makes him wonder how sincere his subjects can be if they approve of everything he orders. After Lorenzo fails to keep a promise to the Major, the Major has him driven from the court. Tobias and Lorenzo now resolve all the more firmly to exploit the emperor’s vanity and take their revenge. Disguised as Oriental cloth makers, they return to the emperor’s court and ask to speak with him in private. They tell the emperor they can weave a very special cloth with a wonderful property: it is invisible to anyone who is unfit for their office or immeasurably stupid. The emperor likes the idea and immediately has them begin work. Lorenzo receives the finest raw materials and starts weaving the new cloth. The emperor waits impatiently and sends a trusted adviser to see how the work is progressing. Naturally, the man sees nothing, but does not want to admit that this proves him unfit for his office. He praises the cloth to the skies, but the emperor is skeptical and sends the Major to inspect it again. The same thing happens to him: he sees nothing, which he also refuses to admit, and confirms his predecessor’s impression. Now incredulous, the emperor examines the cloth himself and cannot believe that he sees nothing while the court attendants around him rave about the new fabric. The emperor decides to let his entire people judge whether he really is too stupid and unfit for his office. His subjects, unlike his court, will tell him the truth. So he plans to show himself to them all in his new clothes. But when the emperor is about to change, Lorenzo and Tobias reveal who they are. They say that they have carried their joke far enough. The emperor, however, is determined to see the charade through to the end so that he can teach his lying court a lesson as well. The emperor therefore appears half-naked before his people. Although the people are about to laugh at first, they suddenly cheer him, because they too do not want to admit that they are stupid. Only when a small child cries out, “The emperor has nothing on!” does the ruler explain the situation to his people. Lorenzo is glad to finally hear his emperor speak honestly to the people, and the emperor promises that in future he will do more for them. As a first step, he has their taxes paid back.