Die Kwannon von Okadera (1920)

Germany, immediately after the First World War. Harlander, a media mogul and profiteer from the war who suffers from dizzy spells, has become a restless soul ever since he was led to believe that he would go mad in six months. As a result, he wants to make the most of the time he has left, throwing money around and writing generously sized checks to complete strangers. Through a newspaper advertisement, Harlander has hired a young nurse named Ingelene von Görtz—the impoverished aristocrat type—to accompany him on a trip to Zurich, where he plans to empty his bank vault. On the way, the unusual pair pass through beautiful northern Italian cities such as Florence and Verona. Being close to this woman seems gradually to restore the man believed to be insane to health. A small bronze statue, the Kwannon of Okadera, which the two wanderers spot in an antique shop in Florence, soon becomes impossible for Harlander to forget. Fascinated by the aura and power of the statuette, Harlander begins to undergo a meditative transformation that seems to bring him serenity. Barely recovered, Harlander immediately betrays Ingelene, to whom he has also grown closer on a personal level, and begins a sexual affair with a dancer. Deeply hurt, Ingelene decides to return to the fiancé she had left behind. Harlander now leaves his old life behind and sets off to wander the wide world, entirely without money.