Die kleine Lady (2012)

Nine-year-old street girl Emily Ernest lives with her young widowed mother in late nineteenth-century New York. She likes to spend her time in the shop of former opera singer Dolores Hobbs, who repeatedly gets into trouble for standing up for women’s rights. One day, Emily learns that she is the only surviving heir to the Countess of Liebenfels zu Arlingen. The old lady had two sons. The elder son died, while Emily’s father, the younger son, was disowned for marrying beneath his station. He later died in the United States too, where he had emigrated with his wife and daughter. Since the Countess now wants to settle her succession and Emily is the only known heir, she sends the family lawyer, Moritz von Havenegg, to New York to bring Emily to Austria. Once there, Emily is to be raised as a proper aristocrat so she can be introduced to high society. To this end, she is separated from her mother, as the Countess does not even want to see her, much less take her into her household. Emily’s mother accepts this and stays in the guesthouse, since Emily’s financial future can only be secured by raising her as a countess. She also refuses to accept money and supports herself by sewing. At the Countess’s castle, the lively girl encounters a strange world devoid of emotion and bound by rigid conventions. But the strict rules do not daunt the little New Yorker. She remains true to herself and, with her openhearted charm and sense of justice, manages to win over the old Countess, who in turn breaks with some long-established conventions. For her birthday, Emily wishes to be allowed to see her mother again. When the Countess refuses, despite having promised earlier, Emily runs to her mother that night. Her mother suggests they return to New York, but Emily refuses because she does not want to leave her grandmother alone, and goes back to the castle. When the Countess learns of this, she forgives Emily’s parents, hangs her son’s portrait in the family gallery again, and visits Emily’s mother at the guesthouse to invite her to Emily’s upcoming debut ball. The Countess opens the ball together with Emily and her mother, but just then Malvina Farelli appears, an American fraudster who claims that her supposed son Alfred is the rightful heir and that she is the widow of the Countess’s elder son. The Countess collapses after a heart attack and does not really recover. Emily’s old friend Dolores hears about it in the press, and recognizes the fraudster from her own past in the theater. She travels to Europe to expose the plot. The Countess’s butler had also once been part of the troupe, and he had alerted his old friend to this opportunity for fraud. Eventually, the Countess accepts the fraudster’s claims, although Mr. von Havenegg suspects that the marriage certificate is forged. Emily does not think any of this is a problem and gives her room to Alfred, who was merely a conjurer. Malvina is put in charge of the household and immediately dismisses Mr. von Havenegg, who can now only arrange for Emily and her mother to leave. But then the Countess comes to her senses and stops them from departing. She refuses to accept the purported line of succession and wants to establish Emily as her heir. To prevent this, the butler poisons the soup, but Alfred sees him do it. He prevents the murder, and at the same time Dolores arrives at the castle and identifies the fraudsters. In gratitude, Alfred is allowed to stay at the castle. The Countess reunites with her youthful love, the professor, and Emily’s mother and Mr. von Havenegg grow closer.