GOETHE!

Germany, 2010, 100 minutes, Colour,
Alexander Fehling, Miriam Stein, Moritz Bleibtreu.
Directed by Philipp Stoelzl.

It’s the ! at the end of Goethe’s name that indicates the tone of this portrait of one of Germany’s most celebrated intellectuals and writers. And somebody else remarked that it was really Young Goethe in Love.

We are in the latter part of the 18th century, the era of the Enlightenment and rational thought in Western Europe – which was already sowing the seeds of a reversion of attitudes that would mark the romanticism of the 19th century.

Goethe as a young man was studying (a euphemism) law and, outrageously improvising about philosophy and human nature,fails his oral examinations, though tickling the humour of his examiners. Whether this happened or not – as indeed for quite a number of incidents in this film – is not quite the point. This is a light entertainment showing what might have happened. A number of commentators have been at pains to tell us that the key events of the film, his working as a legal clerk, the suicide of his friend, Wilhelm Jerusalem, and his encounter with Charlotte Buff are not historically correct – but neither was a lot of Shakespeare in Love.

Alexander Fehling is exuberant as the young Goethe though he finds his wings considerably clipped when his father makes him go to work filing legal papers – and this under the watchful and critically stickling eye of his superior, Albert Kestner (Moritz Bleibtreu). Goethe also encounters Charlotte Buff and her family but – and the film does not quite convince on this point – she succumbs to the very proper attentions of Kestner. Goethe had enjoyed the company and shared apartment of his friend Jerusalem and is shocked at his death. (Moritz Bleibtreu and Alexander Fehling can be seen to great advantage in the World War II adventure, My Best Enemy, Mein Bester Feind.)

Held as a reprehensible blackguard by Kestner, rejected by Lotte, sad about Jerusalem, what is Goethe to do? Obviously, sit down and write about his feelings in novel form, The Sufferings of Young Werther – and to be rejected by publishers. But Goethe, at 23, could overcome his woes because Lotte has had the novel published and Goethe is feted as a celebrity. Seriousness was to come later.

The film takes us into the period, costumes, decor, the towns, the countryside, the wealth, the poverty – a pleasant PR exercise for Goethe!

1. An entertaining look at the young Goethe? Recreation of the era? The 18th century? The Enlightenment? The romantic reaction? The role of history? Imaginative interpretation?

2. The period, the classic 18th century, Germany, the cities, the villages, the countryside? Universities, law courts, legal offices, churches, homes, the open squares, marketplaces? The musical score?

3. The title, the focus on Goethe, the exclamation mark? The tone, partly serious, partly comic?

4. Goethe and his age? 23? His writing poetry? His studies at university, not knowing the material, the examination, the examiners knowing his father? His rambling? His failing?

5. His friends, their support, going home to his father, his father being serious, despising the poetry? Goethe sending the manuscript to the publishers, the letter, the rejection? The recommendation that he work in the legal firm?

6. The office, Kestner and the introduction, his seriousness? Jerusalem as his co-worker? The large task? Achieving it? Making a good impression? The other members of the office, the legal work of the 18th century, without any machines?

7. Goethe and Jerusalem going out, the marketplace, seeing Kestner, the socials, Lotte and her drinking, going to the church, her singing? The meeting? The attraction? Jerusalem and his attraction to the married woman?

8. Romance, Goethe and his visiting the home, Lotte and her father, brothers and sisters, poverty? Goethe and his being at home, playing with the children, the sexual relationship after walking in the country, the rain? Her father and his wanting her to marry Kestner?

9. Kestner, the visits, very formal, the arrangement? The father and his explaining the financial situation to Lotte and her agreeing? Writing the letter to Goethe? His making the gift, the paper theatre, her favorite play, the characters and paralleling Lotte and Goethe?

10. Kestner and his being impressed by Goethe? Inviting him to the social function, Goethe wanting to meet Lotte? Goethe’s arrival, the awkwardness, the embarrassment, the formal invitation to leave?

11. Jerusalem, breaking with the widow, his despairing, the gun, killing himself? The funeral?

12. Gothe’s arrest? In prison, the treatment? Pen and paper? His writing Young Werther? Lotte coming to see him, the final break? His giving her the manuscript? Her saying she would destroy it?

13. Release from jail, going home, his father’s reaction? The crowds, the booksellers, the book sold out, Goethe discovering it was his book? The crowds, autographs, his father’s pride?

14. A fanciful imagining of Goethe’s early life and the beginnings of his career, romantic literature, the reaction to the enlightenment?