Tagebuch (1975)
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Directors
Cast
Angelika Kettelhack, Cynthia Beatt, Rudolf Thome, Holger Henze
A husband’s proposal for a brief separation is tested when his wife and he each feel drawn to one of their visiting married friends.
The story
Charlotte and Eduard’s marriage is unfulfilling and strained by financial worries. She is working on an academic article about abortion, while he documents West Berlin’s urban development in the 1970s. Eduard suggests that they separate briefly to overcome their relationship frustration. Their married friends, Ottilie and Otto, visit from London, and the four help renovate the apartment. As they spend time together, Ottilie and Eduard, and Charlotte and Otto, discover an attraction to one another. The visit brings these new feelings into the couple’s already unsettled relationship.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The film is loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s novel Elective Affinities. The married couple Charlotte and Eduard lead an unfulfilling married life marked by financial worries. Charlotte is working on an academic article about abortion, while Eduard documents the urban development of West Berlin in the 1970s. During one of their conversations, Eduard suggests that they separate briefly in order to overcome their frustration with the relationship. They are visited by a married couple they know from London, Ottilie and Otto. The two couples help each other renovate the apartment, and Ottilie and Eduard, as well as Charlotte and Otto, soon discover that they are attracted to one another. Charlotte dreams of traveling to Portugal, where the feminist movement is flourishing in the wake of the Carnation Revolution. For 6,000 marks, Otto buys a used Porsche and takes a trip with Charlotte. Meanwhile, Ottilie and Eduard become friends while taking a stroll together through West Berlin. When the four meet up again some time later, they visibly feel more relaxed than they did at the beginning.
Genres
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