The film "Die Legende von Paul und Paula" is the answer of DEFA to the western Flower Power movement in the sixties. And although normally the Bolshevist film makers have a habit of ridiculing western (bourgeois) cultural phenomena, in this film they look kindly upon the sensual life of the hippies. The result is a bitter-sweet story. Bitter, because Flower Power is a counter culture, that revolts against the powers that be. The relation between the young lovers Paula and Paul is passionate and bold. For Paul is still married, albeit with a pawky and deceitful woman, a pauper and a pouter, in an affair that from the start never had a chance. And Paula is a mother of two children, just separated, because her husband could not remain faithful. Evidently marriage can be a vexation. The relation between Paula and Paul develops on feelings of passion and attraction. For on the level of cognition they are very different. Paul is a well-paid worker in the medical profession, and looks forward to a brilliant career. Paula works as check-out lady in a supermarket (does this mean something?). Some would call her a Paul Pry. But she possesses a fantasy, a despairing joy and a cheerful nature, that gradually undermine Pauls narrow-minded objections against a new steady relationship. There is sorrow too, for instance when Paulas little boy is killed in a road accident. Finally, after much amorous pow-pow, in the end the couple is united. But the union will not last. For Paula insists on having a child from Paul, even though because of physical inaptness the birth will most likely kill her. She is passionate until the end. Her death is the rebirth of Paul, who now under his own power adopts her sensual and joyous life style (with three kids, two from their former marriages, plus the mutual one). The timeless freedom of their affair is supported by the music of the GDR rock band "Die Puhdys", and by psychedelic scenes of Paula and Paul in a bed of flowers, floating on a river. The contrast with an earlier scene, where they make love in a pound, is immense. Of course this film is not unique. It follows the typical pattern of those days, just like for instance the Dutch film "Turks fruit" (also ending with the death of the female), and the American "Hair". But although I grew up in those years, I am still unable to give a convincing interpretation. There is something about sexual liberation and ill-fated relations. Beyond that, the behavior of the main characters is clearly unhealthy - just like Flower Power itself was unworldly and not viable. Perhaps the message is that there is always hope, and you should smile even in times of humanitarian shortcomings. We are just pawns in life's game. Let us call it a kind-hearted film with many qualities, that deserves more than it gets - like often on IMDb.
Review of The Legend of Paul and Paula
