A countess' unrequited love for an army officer leads to disaster.A countess' unrequited love for an army officer leads to disaster.A countess' unrequited love for an army officer leads to disaster.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 2 nominations
- Volkmar
- (as Matthieu Carrière)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaTitle translation: Finishing Blow.
- Quotes
Sophie de Reval: May I come in?
Erich von Lhomond: Of course. Thank you. It's quite late, Sophie.
Sophie de Reval: I'll just smoke a pipeful. Why did you come to Kratovice of all places, Erich?
Erich von Lhomond: Where should I have gone?
Sophie de Reval: You could have stayed in Paris or Berlin. No one forced you to fight in this war.
Erich von Lhomond: I'm an officer and useless in Berlin.
Sophie de Reval: What are you defending here? Your mother lost everything before the war.
Erich von Lhomond: Perhaps I like lost causes. In any case I've always fought for them.
Sophie de Reval: At least you've none of Konrad's illusions.
Erich von Lhomond: Konrad's beliefs are truer than yours, Sophie. His don't come from books, but from life, from your family tradition.
Sophie de Reval: The new era has no use for our tradition.
Erich von Lhomond: No one chooses his own story.
Sophie de Reval: Oh yes.
Erich von Lhomond: You should go to bed, Sophie.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Portrait of Valeska Gert (1977)
DER FANGSCHUSS/COUP DE GRACE is one of his more watchable works, which might be largely due the fine, atmospheric B/W photography. But compared to Margarete Yourcenar's novel Schlöndorff's inability to adopt a proper point of view becomes apparent. The novel is told in first person by the main character Erich von Lhomond; yet in Schlöndorff's version it is never clear if it his or Sophie's story. The erotic obsession Sophie has for Erich, mixed with political adversity, which is so crucial for the story is almost completely missing in the film. It is rather supposed than being actually shown and acted out. Unless you have not read the book you cannot measure Schlöndorff's failure to convey what's actually going on between these two.
The greatest flaw is the miscasting of the director's wife Margarethe von Trotta, who is not only a mediocre actress but who is visibly at least 15 years too old for her character, leaving it pointless and unbelievable. Trotta sucks so badly in her part that it makes the whole film a pain to watch every time she appears on screen.
One of the few truly enjoyable moments is the final screen appearance of legendary actress and Pabst veteran Valeska Gert (THE JOYLESS STREET) in an eccentric supporting part - even though her black dyed hair, heavy make-up and curious antics make her hardly a convincing Baltic German landowner lady of the early 20th century.
DER FANGSCHUSS is a pretentious misunderstanding, like most of Schlöndorff's work.
- Lichtmesz23
- Jun 8, 2009
Details
- Runtime1 hour 37 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1