Die fromme Lüge (1938)

Carmen Casini has made a name for herself as an opera singer and become famous. Her illegitimate son Cecil, who has only recently come of age, has become a rather carefree idler because he has no father in his life. He lives off his mother’s money and has plenty of other foolish ideas, too. His passion is fast cars, and the young man plans to become a racing driver soon. His first race is already scheduled. Despite the wind and rain, his mother Carmen is determined to be there on the first day her son races on the track. This proves costly twice over: first, her inexperienced son crashes, although he is only slightly injured; and second, the cold and rain damage her vocal cords so badly that the doctor later has to tell her the bitter truth: Carmen will never be able to sing again. Carmen Casini is suddenly left with no income at all, but with a son who is by no means ready to give up his expensive lifestyle. She does not dare tell her beloved son the whole truth at his bedside, so she chooses the “pious lie,” as the film’s title promises. Also present in the hospital room is a certain Bartell, Carmen’s former partner, who is also Cecil’s biological father—something Cecil does not know. Back then, the man had shamefully abandoned Carmen. Cecil falls in love with Colette, Bartell’s ward, unaware of the complicated and delicate family circumstances. Carmen is firmly opposed to her son’s planned marriage to Colette and also strongly resists Cecil’s intention to go into Bartell’s employ to earn money. Bartell, too, is anything but happy that Cecil intends to marry his Colette. Matters worsen when Cecil starts gambling and runs up a large debt to his father. The young man is all the more astonished when, after asking Carmen for financial help yet again, she turns him down for the first time. Carmen makes it perfectly clear to Cecil that she can no longer give him a check because she is broke. To keep herself afloat, she even accepts an advance for a tour of America that she knows full well she will never be able to undertake. Carmen’s patron, the American sewing-machine manufacturer Sam Milbrey, only wants to exploit her and use her as an advertising face. To make matters worse, Cecil learns that his mother has lost her singing voice. Even so, he cannot bring himself to turn his life around, not even after his father Bartell gives him a thorough dressing-down. Cecil is simply too weak-willed to stop being an irresponsible parasite and become a support to his mother, and so he attempts suicide. By chance, the young man is rescued at the last moment. His parents meet again at his hospital bedside, anxiously waiting to see whether their son will survive. At last, this brings about the reconciliation with Carmen that Bartell has long sought. They both decide that from now on they will work together to make Cecil into a capable, self-reliant person, and they also intend to give their relationship another try.