»DIE FREUDLOSE GASSE – ÜBER ASTA NIELSEN UND DIE GESCHLECHTERVERHÄLTNISSE IM FILM« BY HEIDE SCHLÜPMANN AND KAROLA GRAMANN
Heide Schlüpmann and Karola Gramann – film scholars, film curators, and founders of the Kinothek Asta Nielsen e. V. (Frankfurt/Main) – use the film “The Joyless Street” to illustrate the relevance of Asta Nielsen’s oeuvre in the context of social criticism, gender roles, and creating identity in the Weimar Republic.
»THE JOYLESS STREET«
For cinephiles, this film sits between expressionism and the New Objectivity movement, presenting everyday life after the First World War, which was also the period of hyperinflation, on screen: human need and evil are both great. The fates of several women – played by Asta Nielsen, Valeska Gert and Greta Garbo – are “captured with great intensity in a burning mirror”, the Weimar press reports, adding that something needs to be done about this. This socially critical work was also a case of extreme censorship as despite several reconstructions, around 30 minutes of film material still remain missing. The author of the novel did not live to see the film’s premiere as he was murdered by an avowed Nazi in March 1925 in response to his handling of subjects including abortion, the decriminalisation of homosexuality and modern divorce laws.
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Release: Germany 1925
Format: dcp, viragiert, German title cards
Duration: 151 Minutes
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Screenplay: Willy Haas, based on the novel by Hugo Bettauer
Camera: Guido Seeber, Curt Oertel, Walter Robert Lach
With: Asta Nielsen, Greta Garbo, Werner Krauß, Valeska Gert, Hertha von Walther, Gregori Chmara, Ágnes Eszterházy, Loni Nest
Archive: Filmmuseum München
Live music: Richard Siedhoff (Piano), Mykyta Sierov (Oboe)
An event in co-operation with the Thuringian Landeszentrale für politische Bildung.