Luise Millerin (1922)

The film’s story largely follows Schiller’s famous drama about class prejudice, the abuse of power, and intrigue in a bygone age. The handsome Major Ferdinand loves Luise Miller, the daughter of a humble musician. Both fathers react with great hostility to their children’s planned union. Ferdinand’s father, President von Walter, who serves the ruler of Anspach, rejects his son’s marriage to a common girl on grounds of social rank. Instead, he plans to marry his son to Lady Milford, the ruler’s mistress, hoping thereby to increase his influence at court. Ferdinand is firmly opposed to his father’s arrangement and will not let anyone talk him out of marrying Luise. If all else fails, he plans to elope with his beloved. Hoping that the woman chosen for him will also be unhappy at the prospect of becoming Ferdinand’s wife, he meets with Lady Milford to discuss how they might thwart the arrangement. But, to his surprise, the Lady has strong feelings for Ferdinand and tells him that she has always tried to temper the despotism of the ruler. Lady Milford also makes it clear that the wedding preparations are already well advanced and that she would lose face and her honor if Ferdinand refused to marry her as the powerful men have planned. However, she wants to speak with Luise herself first, so she can form a complete picture of her and her relationship with Ferdinand. The simple young woman’s candor, innocence, and decency impress Lady Milford so deeply that she abandons her plans and resolves to leave the court and the country, seeking a fresh start in a humble but honest life. The triumph of the love between two young people over the schemes, corruption, and high-aristocratic interference at court lasts only briefly. Ferdinand’s father, the President, and his obsequious, compliant aide Wurm now set a particularly vicious intrigue in motion to prevent the court’s machinations from coming to light. The President has by no means given up his plan to sabotage Ferdinand’s love for and marriage to Luise Miller. Luise’s parents, the Millers, are arrested on a whim. They are openly threatened with execution. To prevent this outrage, Luise Miller is ordered to write a love letter to Court Marshal Kalb, which she must swear was written “of her own free will.” The letter falls into Ferdinand’s hands, leading him to believe that Luise has been unfaithful to him. Jealous and doubtful, Ferdinand consequently questions Luise’s love for him. The young woman believes that only a desperate act can offer her a way out, and she intends to take her own life. This final act is meant to prove her innocence. But Luise’s father, who considers suicide a grave sin, manages to stop her. Bound by the coerced oath forbidding her to tell the truth about the matter, Luise can only respond to Ferdinand with an inscrutable silence. Unable to make sense of Luise’s behavior, her beloved then poisons himself and her. As she faces death, Luise feels freed from the forced oath, tells Ferdinand what happened, and forgives him for killing her. In turn, as his own death approaches, Ferdinand offers his father his hand in reconciliation.