7/10
Heimatfilm with a twist
21 November 2005
This has everything you expect from German films from the 1950s, with lavish song routines, chocolate-box German scenery, and a setting in a 1920s/1930s Germany as it might have been with no Great Depression and no Adolf Hitler. But, though I can't give more details because of the risk of spoiling the plot, it stands out because of its unusual take on divorce. The ending is definitely not what I thought it was going to be, and must have shocked many in the original audience.

The film is also notable for the acting of two characters. The actress Romy Schneider, here in an important supporting role, would later come to be one of Germany's best-loved actresses, for example when she played the title role in Sissi. But most interesting was the actress who played Willy's manager, who I think must be Ellen (Hertha Feiler), who adopts a deliberately "modern" style, and is largely responsible for frustrating the ending one might have expected.
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