Trenck - Zwei Herzen gegen die Krone (2002)

In the early 1740s, Baron Friedrich von der Trenck is studying in Königsberg. Although he is considered exceptionally gifted, he has a dubious reputation with the university authorities because of his love affairs and frequent involvement in (illegal) duels. When King Frederick II visits the university, he urges Trenck to join the Garde du Corps. After accepting the offer, Trenck soon meets Anna Amalia, one of the king’s sisters. They fall in love, but their relationship must remain secret, since it is clear that Amalia’s brother would not approve of the unsuitable match. The king initially thinks highly of Trenck and promotes him from cadet to cornet after only a short time. Trenck’s superior, Jaschinsky, on the other hand, dislikes him from the outset, particularly because he has his own eye on Amalia. When reports from the king’s intelligence service inform him of Amalia’s affair with Trenck, he decides to marry her off to the Swedish heir to the throne. Amalia sabotages the plan by deliberately making herself look unattractive and sickly for the crucial reception. The Swedish envoy, who is acting on behalf of the Swedish heir in choosing among the king’s unmarried sisters, prefers her charming sister Luise Ulrike. The king is angered by Amalia’s behavior and bluntly tells her that she is having an affair with Trenck. Frederick II leads his troops into a war against Austria. Trenck distinguishes himself through skill and bravery. He receives the Pour le Mérite and is promoted to lieutenant. These favors from the king give Trenck the idea of asking permission to marry Amalia. She warns him, however, that doing so would mean the end of his career as an officer and of his life as a man. A little later, an incident alerts the king to the fact that their relationship is still going on, and he explicitly forbids it. Trenck writes to his Austrian cousin Franz von der Trenck, asking him for financial help because he will have to leave the country to be with Amalia. When the king is given this letter along with a love letter from Amalia to Trenck, he considers Trenck a traitor to his country. Trenck is summoned to see the king at Charlottenburg and naively believes that the king is now willing to approve his marriage to Amalia after all. But as soon as he arrives, he is arrested and imprisoned in the fortress of Glatz, whose commandant is his old adversary, Jaschinsky. Amalia blames herself for Trenck’s fate. She contacts Trenck’s loyal servant, Nikolai, to arrange a meeting. In Glatz, Trenck befriends the guard officer Schell. Taking advantage of Jaschinsky’s absence on official business, Schell assigns Trenck to a work detail felling trees on a wooded riverbank outside the fortress walls. Nikolai uses this opportunity to arrange a meeting with Amalia in a nearby forest clearing. Amalia makes Trenck promise to endure his imprisonment patiently and not to try to escape, since her brother will eventually see that he has wronged him. Meanwhile, Jaschinsky returns from his trip earlier than expected. When he notices that Trenck is missing, he has Schell arrested. Alerted by the commotion, Trenck hurries back to the riverbank, where he encounters Jaschinsky. He agrees to return to his cell without resistance, but Jaschinsky refuses to accept this and intends to kill him. An unequal fight ensues: armed only with a branch, Trenck tries to fend off Jaschinsky’s sword. In the meantime, Schell has shaken off his guards and comes to Trenck’s aid. They eventually manage to hold Jaschinsky off long enough to escape by swimming across the river. They make their way to Vienna, where they seek help from Trenck’s cousin. Because of their disheveled appearance, however, they are not even admitted. Instead, they are summoned to Schönbrunn Palace to see Field Marshal Larisch, who urges Trenck to become an officer in the Austrian army and put his knowledge of Prussian military tactics to use. Though Trenck is uneasy about it, he sees no way to refuse in his circumstances and accepts on the condition that Schell is taken on as well and Nikolai is allowed to continue working for him. Amalia is shocked to hear that Trenck has escaped so soon after promising not to, and that he has even applied for an Austrian commission. Unlike her brother, however, she does not want to jump to conclusions. She writes a letter to Trenck asking him to explain his behavior. But von Rochow, one of Jaschinsky’s henchmen, intercepts Amalia’s lady-in-waiting, Marie, who is supposed to deliver the letter to Nikolai. Jaschinsky destroys the letter and forces Marie to forge another one, in which Amalia tells Trenck that she wants nothing more to do with him. When Trenck receives the letter, he is devastated, but does not question its contents. As a result, Amalia waits in vain for his reply and is deeply hurt and unsettled. In the field, Trenck is tormented by guilt over having caused the deaths of former Prussian comrades through his service in the Austrian army. Frederick II, now finally convinced of Trenck’s disloyalty and poor character, wants to marry Amalia off as soon as possible. His choice of groom is none other than Jaschinsky. Amalia agrees to a brief meeting with him, but immediately afterward destroys Jaschinsky’s roses. When the king announces their engagement at a ball without consulting her, Amalia sweeps out of the room, insulting both Jaschinsky and her brother. When the king confronts her about it, she declares that she would rather take her own life than marry Jaschinsky. The king then decrees that she is to enter a convent and become abbess at Quedlinburg. Nikolai makes one last attempt to intervene on his own and goes to see Amalia. He explains how Trenck came to escape, and Marie admits that she forged the letter to Trenck. Amalia writes a new letter, which Nikolai delivers without delay. Trenck immediately drops everything to meet Amalia. At their meeting in a country house in the border region between Prussia and Austria, Amalia tells Trenck that his only chance is to turn himself in and submit to her brother’s mercy. Trenck agrees, but first wants to contact Schell to clear up a few things. Jaschinsky, however, has already secretly surrounded the building with his men. As soon as Amalia has left, they corner Trenck and Nikolai. Trenck is willing to surrender, but once again Jaschinsky refuses to accept this and insists on dragging him away by force, after killing Nikolai for no reason. Trenck is imprisoned in the fortress of Magdeburg, where he is treated very badly and has to sleep in chains on his own gravestone. Although Amalia, with Schell’s help, manages after some time to improve his circumstances somewhat by bribing the guards, Trenck’s condition continues to deteriorate. When Amalia visits the fortress with some other nuns to provide spiritual care to the prisoners, she manages to get permission to see Trenck as well. She finds him apathetic. Though she cannot be sure he even recognizes her, she tries to encourage him—with apparent success, since a little later Trenck summons what strength he has left to attempt an escape. He eventually gets away in the uniform of a guard and makes his way to Quedlinburg. There, in the convent church and in Amalia’s presence, he and Jaschinsky engage in one final, bitter fight. Trenck is defeated. But just as Jaschinsky is about to deliver the fatal blow to his rival, Amalia kills him with a stone figurine. Amalia and Trenck then flee on horseback, but are soon caught and brought before the king, who is at a nearby military encampment. Trenck is to be shot. Amalia makes one last passionate appeal to her brother’s conscience. At last, the king remembers his former affection for them both and allows the couple to leave the country together. Amalia and Trenck ride through blooming fields toward their new life.