Jons und Erdme (1959)
No stats available
Directors
Cast
Giulietta Masina, Carl Raddatz, Karin Baal, Richard Basehart, Agnes Fink
In a bleak Lithuanian moorland, Erdme struggles to keep a farm and marriage going with her much older, hard-drinking husband.
The story
In a bleak, rain-swept moorland region of Lithuania, Erdme lives with her much older husband, Jons, and their daughter, Katrike. Erdme and Jons work hard to make a living on their farm, but his fondness for drink and lack of self-control strain their marriage. Katrike, whom the account describes as spoiled, makes further demands on Erdme. Erdme finds a more understanding companion in Wittkuhn, a younger blacksmith, and begins a secret affair with him. The story is shaped by gray, rainy images.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The rather plot-light story, strongly shaped by atmospheric, gray, rainy images, takes place in a bleak moorland region in Lithuania. Erdme is married to Jons, who is considerably older and all too fond of reaching for the bottle. Together, the couple struggle to make a living as farmers on their own farm. The hard labor and Jons’s lack of self-control mean that, in the long run, their marriage is doomed to fail. Their overly spoiled daughter, Katrike, is no great help to Erdme either, always making demands of her. Erdme finds in Wittkuhn, a delicate, younger blacksmith, a man who understands her far better than her drinking husband does, and begins a secret affair with him. When the quick-tempered Jons once again has one of his dreaded fits of rage and wants to smash everything around him to pieces, Erdme is injured too, and this leads her to decide to leave her husband for good. Erdme goes to Wittkuhn to start a new life with him. But she soon realizes that Wittkuhn does not need her nearly as much as her ultimately helpless husband Jons does, and so one day, despite knowing better and yet feeling remorseful, she returns to Jons.
Genres
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…