A Romance in Minor Key (digital quality)
1943

A Romance in Minor Key (digital quality)

Romanze in Moll (Original Title)

"Romanze in Moll" (1943), also known as "Romance in a Minor Key," is a German drama directed by the brilliant Helmut Käutner. It's a beautifully made melodrama, inspired by Guy de Maupassant's story "Les Bijoux". The film tells the story of Madeleine, the wife of a bookkeeper in 19th-century Paris, who has an affair with a composer. Her life becomes complicated when her husband's boss tries to blackmail her. The film is noted for its nuanced portrayal of a woman seeking fulfillment outside her marriage and its atmospheric, chiaroscuro-style cinematography and sensitive delicacy.

1h 38min
December 30, 1943
Admin comments

This is one of the most elegant and accomplished films made in the poetic romanticism genre. It is to be regretted that one of Germany's finest directors, Helmut Kautner, is virtually unknown to non-European audiences. He has not succeeded in Hollywood due to inability to adjust to the low taste and primitivism of the semi-literate shtetl Jewish studio owners.

His best films were the ones he directed between 1939 and 1945 under a totalitarian regime. Goebbels had some taste. At least two are the masterpieces of the genre. Another point I would like to make is that the way Helmut Kaütner depicts Madeleine’s husband, he clearly dislikes and despises morality of the bourgeoisie and bourgeoisie as class in general.

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