Liebling der Götter (1960)

Berlin, 1931: The film The Private Secretary premieres at the Marmorhaus cinema, with the young Renate Müller in her first major role. The press is waiting for her, but she is too nervous to appear. She tries to work up her courage in a wine bar not far from the cinema, where she meets Dr. Hans Simon, a state secretary in the Prussian government. He encourages her, and the two go to the premiere together. The film is a great success, and Renate is subsequently offered roles in several films. She continues seeing Hans, with whom she falls in love. Her former boyfriend, Volker Hellberg, warns her about him, saying that he is Jewish and could become a problem for her in the future. Volker is a small-time bookseller, but he wants to enter politics in Munich. Renate initially wants to support him, but his radical hostility toward Hans repels her, and she breaks up with him. She soon sees for herself how vulnerable Hans is: he is regularly insulted as a Jew over the telephone and threatened with death. Renate throws herself into her film work, even though she cannot ignore the political developments. One evening, Volker turns up injured in her dressing room. He has been in a fight and now wants to leave Berlin for good. Renate gives him money to do so. Hans Simon, meanwhile, has to attend ever more frequent emergency meetings with his colleagues to discuss how to deal with Adolf Hitler. The increasingly tense political situation also changes things for Hans and Renate: he decides not to propose to her. Renate eventually buys a villa next door to his so she can be near him. She is filming abroad when news breaks that Hitler has seized power. Renate immediately returns to Berlin and looks for Simon, who has been driven from office and has found refuge with a friend. She helps him escape to Prague, from where he emigrates to London. The Gestapo suspects that she helped Hans escape, so she is interrogated. Volker, who has been given a position by the new rulers, saves her from further trouble: he managed to persuade Joseph Goebbels, an admirer of her art, to have Renate released. Her release comes with the condition that she remain and work in Germany. Renate pretends to be going to a sanatorium in Switzerland, but travels to London to see Hans, whom she secretly visits every month from then on. She plans to emigrate and transfers large sums of cash to Switzerland, where she buys a villa. At the same time, she films tirelessly, but vehemently refuses to take part in propaganda films. Volker Hellberg, whom Goebbels has tasked with keeping Renate under surveillance, moves into Hans’s villa. He eventually discovers that Renate is not only visiting London regularly, but has also taken 120,000 marks to Switzerland. Acting on orders from the highest level, he questions Renate in his villa, confiscates her passport, and forces her to have the money transferred back to Germany. She is also to be forced to make political films. Renate turns to alcohol and eventually becomes barely able to speak properly on set. She finally collapses and is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where she dies. Hans has learned of her stay in the hospital and secretly travels to Berlin, where he is told of Renate’s death. He attends her burial from a distance, where she is portrayed as “loyal to the Reich” and, above all, her last film—a propaganda film—is described as the one most in keeping with her convictions. Volker Hellberg sees Hans as he walks away from the grave, but passes him without a word.