Die Halbzarte (1959)

The members of the lower-middle-class Dassau family unsuccessfully pursue various artistic activities. While the father, a postal employee in Vienna, writes crime novels in his spare time that no publisher will take, the mother composes songs that meet the same fate. The eldest daughter, Nicole, is told that her “half-tender” poems show talent, but receives no offers. The younger siblings paint and juggle. Taking as her model an immoral exposé written by a 16-year-old, Nicole writes a play about the freewheeling love life of a 17-year-old, with advice from her sister Brigitte and her father. The father acts as his daughter’s agent, representing her as an anonymous author who supposedly writes autobiographically. The theater accepts the play, and the family can subsequently fulfill some of its material dreams. Mr. Dott, an American producer, takes an interest in the play and wants to acquire the film rights. The condition is that the author’s anonymity be broken, at least where he is concerned. Nicole agrees to meet Dott in his theater box. At the end of the performance, the leading actress reveals Nicole’s identity, whereupon teenage fans abduct Nicole to a club. Dott rescues her and tries to get closer to her over dinner. After she flees to her parents’ apartment, Dott seeks her out and offers her a business arrangement on the condition that Nicole come with him to America. She agrees to a date with Dott. Dott, who is looking for a “girl without a past” to be his life partner, and Nicole fall in love on the Ferris wheel at Vienna’s Prater amusement park. After a few more comic complications, the two become a couple.