The Berlin Affair
Encyclopedia
The Berlin Affair is a 1985
Italo
-German
film
, directed by Liliana Cavani
and starring Gudrun Landgrebe
, Kevin McNally
and Mio Takaki. Set in Berlin
, 1938, it sees the wife of a rising Nazi diplomat fall in love with Mitsuko Matsugae, the daughter of the Japan
ese Ambassador
and an artist. Her husband finds out, and moves to break up the affair. However he soon falls in love with Mistuko himself, leading to the intervention of officials higher in the system. The film is based upon the novel Quicksand
by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.
One day, Louise is summoned by her lover and she discovers that Mitsuko has been carrying an affair with their drawing instructor, Joseph Benno. They had planned to marry in spite of their social and racial differences, and intentionally spread the lesbian rumors at the art institute to mask their relationship. Disgusted and disillusioned, Louise breaks away from Mitsuko and returns to her husband telling him all.
Meanwhile, the Nazi regimen has been using a moralizing campaign as an excuse to eliminate its opponents. Heinz’s cousin, Wolf von Hollendorf, a high ranking officer in the Gestapo makes Louise and Heinz participate in a plot to uncover General Werner von Heiden homosexuality. The trap takes place in the house of the Hollendorfs who could not refuse the favor. They invite the old General von Heiden and his lover a young handsome pianist. Wolf exposes their relationship ruining the general's career.
A month later, Mitsuko reappears in Louise’s life faking being ill and pregnant. Louise does not believe her, but they rekindle their affair even with greater ardor. Benno is still in Mitsuko life, but promises Louise that he will tolerate her relationship with Mitsuko if she helps them getting married. Louise reluctantly agrees but Benno uses their written commitment to blackmail Heinz. With Wolf's help, Heinz has Benno, who is half Italian, deported. He is determined to separate his wife from her Japanese lover, but the two women plot to scare Heinz to get him to accept their relationship faking a suicide attempt. The plan takes an unexpected turn when Mitsuko seduces the husband himself. This leads to a ménage à trois with each member of the triangle becoming more and more jealous of the others. Mitsuko, jealous and possessive, is the domineering partner in the threesome. She gives the von Hollendorfs sleeping pills after dinner to make sure they will not have sex and plays the married couple off against each other. Their self-destructive relationship becomes known to the Nazi authorities when Benno publishes the information abroad. To avoid a scandal Heinz is asked to resign and to leave the city. Wolf temporarily withdraws their passports. Rather than risk to be separated, all three drink poison in a ceremonial ritual. However later, to Louise's bewilderment, she awakes and understands that Mitsuko intended to take Heinz instead of her.
The Berlin Affair was the first film produced by Menahem Golan
and Yoram Globus
in Italy for Cannon. It was shot in Rome
at the Paolis Studios and Vienna
from April to July 1985. Gudrun Landgrabe, one of the discoveries of the New German Cinema
, had appeared in Robert van Ackeren
’s Die Flambierte frau The woman in Flames 1982, Edgar Reitz
’s Heimat
1984, and István Szabó
’s Colonel Redl 1985. Kevin McNally, a British actor, plays the husband. Casting the role of Mitzuko was challlenging. Cavani went to Tokyo
looking for a model of beauty that could balance seductiveness with an iron will. She found it in the 24-year-old actress and pop singer Mio Takaki.
. The Berlin Affair is available in Region 2 DVD. It has not been released on DVD in the U.S.A.
1985 in film
-Events:* 3 December - Roger Moore steps down from the role of James Bond after twelve years and seven films. He is replaced by Timothy Dalton.* The Academy Award for Best Picture was won by Out Of Africa, while the highest grossing film was Back to the Future.* Bliss wins AFI Award for best Movie...
Italo
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
-German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, directed by Liliana Cavani
Liliana Cavani
Liliana Cavani is an Italian film director and screenwriter. She belongs to a generation of Italian filmmakers that came into prominence in the 1970s and includes Bernardo Bertolucci, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Marco Bellochio. Cavani became internationally known after the success of her 1974 feature...
and starring Gudrun Landgrebe
Gudrun Landgrebe
Gudrun Landgrebe is a German actress.Landgrebe was born in Göttingen, grew up in Bochum, and attended theatre school in Cologne from 1968 until 1971. In 1971 she made her debut at Stadttheater Bielefeld. She also appeared in Heimat as the character Klärchen Sisse...
, Kevin McNally
Kevin McNally
Kevin McNally is an English actor who has worked in theatre and radio extensively as well as in film and television.-Life and career:...
and Mio Takaki. Set in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, 1938, it sees the wife of a rising Nazi diplomat fall in love with Mitsuko Matsugae, the daughter of the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
and an artist. Her husband finds out, and moves to break up the affair. However he soon falls in love with Mistuko himself, leading to the intervention of officials higher in the system. The film is based upon the novel Quicksand
Quicksand (novel)
is a novel by the Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. It was written in serial format between 1928 and 1930 for the magazine Kaizō. The last of Tanizaki's major novels translated into English, it concerns a four-way bisexual love affair between upper-crust Osakans.-Title:The Japanese title, Manji,...
by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.
Plot
In Berlin in 1938, Louise von Hollendorf, the beautiful wife of a German senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, decides to take drawing lessons at the institute of Fine arts when the works of his literature professor are banned by the Nazi regime. At the art classes Louise meets Mitsuko Matsugae, the young and alluring daughter of the Japanese Ambassador. Captivated by Mitsuko's beauty, Louise uses her as a model for her sketching exercises. At school, a rumor spreads romantically linking the two women which actually bring them together. Smitten with each other they become friends and soon embark in a passionate affair. As Louise later tells her professor, "One moment we were laughing, the next, we were making love ". Their lesbian relationship is carried away at Louise's house and a later in a seedy hotel. The two spend almost all of their time together, and Louise is madly in love. Her husband, Heinz, begins to suspect the nature of Louise relationship with Mitsuko. He is jealous, but also worried about the political implications that his wife indiscretions can bring to his political ambitions. Heinz confronts his wife, but she denies everything in spite of clear evidence to the contrary.One day, Louise is summoned by her lover and she discovers that Mitsuko has been carrying an affair with their drawing instructor, Joseph Benno. They had planned to marry in spite of their social and racial differences, and intentionally spread the lesbian rumors at the art institute to mask their relationship. Disgusted and disillusioned, Louise breaks away from Mitsuko and returns to her husband telling him all.
Meanwhile, the Nazi regimen has been using a moralizing campaign as an excuse to eliminate its opponents. Heinz’s cousin, Wolf von Hollendorf, a high ranking officer in the Gestapo makes Louise and Heinz participate in a plot to uncover General Werner von Heiden homosexuality. The trap takes place in the house of the Hollendorfs who could not refuse the favor. They invite the old General von Heiden and his lover a young handsome pianist. Wolf exposes their relationship ruining the general's career.
A month later, Mitsuko reappears in Louise’s life faking being ill and pregnant. Louise does not believe her, but they rekindle their affair even with greater ardor. Benno is still in Mitsuko life, but promises Louise that he will tolerate her relationship with Mitsuko if she helps them getting married. Louise reluctantly agrees but Benno uses their written commitment to blackmail Heinz. With Wolf's help, Heinz has Benno, who is half Italian, deported. He is determined to separate his wife from her Japanese lover, but the two women plot to scare Heinz to get him to accept their relationship faking a suicide attempt. The plan takes an unexpected turn when Mitsuko seduces the husband himself. This leads to a ménage à trois with each member of the triangle becoming more and more jealous of the others. Mitsuko, jealous and possessive, is the domineering partner in the threesome. She gives the von Hollendorfs sleeping pills after dinner to make sure they will not have sex and plays the married couple off against each other. Their self-destructive relationship becomes known to the Nazi authorities when Benno publishes the information abroad. To avoid a scandal Heinz is asked to resign and to leave the city. Wolf temporarily withdraws their passports. Rather than risk to be separated, all three drink poison in a ceremonial ritual. However later, to Louise's bewilderment, she awakes and understands that Mitsuko intended to take Heinz instead of her.
Cast
- Gudrun LandgrebeGudrun LandgrebeGudrun Landgrebe is a German actress.Landgrebe was born in Göttingen, grew up in Bochum, and attended theatre school in Cologne from 1968 until 1971. In 1971 she made her debut at Stadttheater Bielefeld. She also appeared in Heimat as the character Klärchen Sisse...
as: Louise von Hollendorf - Kevin McNallyKevin McNallyKevin McNally is an English actor who has worked in theatre and radio extensively as well as in film and television.-Life and career:...
as : Heinz von Hollendorf - Mio Takaki as: Mitsuko Matsugae
- Hanns Zischler as : Wolf von Hollendorf
- Andrea ProdanAndrea ProdanAndrea Prodan Scottish-Italian film actor, composer and musician is the younger brother of Argentine rock star Luca Prodan. The Prodan family, after suffering internment in a Japanese concentration camp during WW II, was expelled from China due to Mao...
as : Joseph Benno - Massimo GirottiMassimo GirottiMassimo Girotti was an Italian film actor whose career spanned seven decades.Born in Mogliano, in the province of Macerata, Girotti developed his athletic physique by swimming and polo...
as : Werner von Heiden - Pieter Daniel as : Edmund Meyer
- William BergerWilliam BergerWilliam Berger was a European actor, mostly associated with Euro or spaghetti Westerns and travel documentaries.-Career:A former roommate of Keith Richards, his earliest work was in Broadway...
as : Professor - John SteinerJohn SteinerJohn Steiner is an English actor. Tall, thin and gaunt, Steiner attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and worked for a few years at the BBC. Steiner featured in a lead role in a television production of Design for Living by Noel Coward. Later he found further work primarily in films...
as: Oskar Engelhart - Edward Farrelly as: Bernard
- Philippe LeroyPhilippe LeroyPhilippe Leroy may refer to:*Philippe Leroy *Philippe Leroy...
as: Herbert Gessler - Claudio Lorimer as: Otto Bhuler
Production
The original title of the film, Interno Berlinese, can be translated as Inside Berlin or Interior berlines. The story is based upon Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.’s novel Quicksand, Manji, better known as The Buddist Cross 1928 -1930. Cavani was drawn to the novel because of its dramatic " intensity and extreme economy, his capacity to bring us, as nearly breathless spectators, inside the meaning of seemingly insignificant details. Manji was published a serial novel in a literary magazine between 1928 and 1930. Sonoko the first person narrator, recounts her own story to a prominent writer as a long monologue that continues the novel itself. It is the story of a passionate love affair with Mitsuko that eventually involves her husband and Watanuki, an impotent effeminate dandy. Mitsuki was actually the name of Tanizaki third wife. She inspired several of his novels. Cavanai brought the story forward in time and set the plot in Germany in 1938.The Berlin Affair was the first film produced by Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan is an Israeli director and producer. He has produced movies for such stars as Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Charles Bronson, and was known for a period as a producer of comic book-style movies like Masters of the Universe, Superman IV:...
and Yoram Globus
Yoram Globus
Yoram Globus Yoram Globus Yoram Globus (born 21 October 1941 in Tiberias, Israel, is an Israeli director and producer who is most famous for his association with Cannon Films Inc., a company he ran with his cousin Menahem Golan....
in Italy for Cannon. It was shot in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
at the Paolis Studios and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
from April to July 1985. Gudrun Landgrabe, one of the discoveries of the New German Cinema
New German Cinema
New German cinema is a period in German cinema which lasted from the late 1960s into the 1980s. It saw the emergence of a new generation of directors...
, had appeared in Robert van Ackeren
Robert van Ackeren
Robert van Ackeren is a German movie director, actor, producer, writer and cinematographer, born in 22 December 1946, West Berlin, West Germany.-Filmography :* Deutschland privat - Im Land der bunten Träume...
’s Die Flambierte frau The woman in Flames 1982, Edgar Reitz
Edgar Reitz
Edgar Reitz is a German filmmaker and Professor of Film at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe.- Early life and education :...
’s Heimat
Heimat
Heimat is a German word that has no simple English translation. It is often expressed with terms such as home or homeland, but these English counterparts fail to encapsulate the true meaning of the word.-The meaning of Heimat:...
1984, and István Szabó
István Szabó
István Szabó is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and opera director.Szabó is the most internationally famous Hungarian filmmaker since the late 1960s. Working in the tradition of European, auteurist art cinema, he has made films that represent many of the psychological and political...
’s Colonel Redl 1985. Kevin McNally, a British actor, plays the husband. Casting the role of Mitzuko was challlenging. Cavani went to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
looking for a model of beauty that could balance seductiveness with an iron will. She found it in the 24-year-old actress and pop singer Mio Takaki.
Release
It was entered into the 36th Berlin International Film Festival36th Berlin International Film Festival
-Jury:* Gina Lollobrigida * Rudi Fehr* Lindsay Anderson* August Coppola* Werner Grassmann* Otar Iosseliani* Norbert Kückelmann* Francoise Maupin* Rosaura Revueltas* Naoki Togawa* Jerzy Toeplitz-Films in competition:...
. The Berlin Affair is available in Region 2 DVD. It has not been released on DVD in the U.S.A.