Die Frau von vierzig Jahren (1925)

This rarely shown and little-known minor work by Oswald tells a classic love triangle set in modern times (the 1920s), involving a woman and her daughter, who both show an interest in the same man. All the characters in this very intimate chamber drama, told in hushed tones, remain nameless. The titular forty-year-old woman lives with her husband in a marriage that has so far been smooth but also without any particular highs. They have become frozen in convention, but it is quite clear that they still love each other. The couple have a daughter who is nearly of age. One day, the forty-year-old meets another man, somewhat younger than herself, whom she finds excitingly different and falls in love with. The title character considers breaking out of the daily routine of married life and begins an affair with the stranger. Unexpectedly, the love affair turns into a classic love triangle. For toward the end of the story, the forty-year-old has to realize that the stranger probably had eyes for her daughter from the very beginning, and used the mother merely as a “detour” to win the younger woman’s heart. The affair ends without a dramatic scene; the forty-year-old resigns herself to her fate and, in resignation, lets her lover go.