I was idly browsing through the dvds on the bargain table and saw this one, with the words, proves exceptional movies are made outside of Hollywood - or somesuch. I bought and returned home with little to do but watch a movie.
It is set in industrial Germany in 1912 and the fashion is stunning. Alan Rickman is adorable. His wife is very attractive but seemingly can only play one tune on the piano which makes her husband very emotional - maybe he paid for her lessons? A young man is taken on as a clerk, then promoted and then he has to work closely with the employer who is too sick to go to work, and eventually moves into the house. The wife, Lotte, is a bit of a tease, and the young man -I can't remember his name - drools after her, and they spend a lot of time together. Obviously they are smitten with each other, but she does not reveal this until he has to travel to Mexico, which may save his life ultimately, as WWI is about to begin. He abandons his sweetheart from his life of poverty, having had his way with her first (I kept waiting for a baby to appear, but no) and is really not very nice. When he is overseas and Lotte is writing to him daily, her husband finally admits that he manipulated the situation so that they would fall in love but couldn't cope with the result. He dies and she sends their son to a boarding school - not really clear why she did that - and she sits around moping until the war ends and Our Hero returns, with a limp, and not much else. There is some very disjointed conversation and the film ends with the implication that they will be devoted for ever. Yawn.
The set, the scenery and the clothing were all perfect. The background of Germany in that era could have been developed more and the intrusion of nazi emblems in a war veteran's parade was pathetic and inaccurate.
So, he had no redeeming characteristics - fickle, creepy and colourless. She is very beautiful and appears devoted to her husband until the young man is sent away. Alan Rickman is totally convincing and holds it together.
One point - I wish that script writers of period dramas would try to get the cadence of conversation authentic - maybe we are all stupid and can't cope with period language, but for the love of god, give us a chance to try!