It
is a love letter to love letters. Without the benefit of e-mail and cell
phones, Friedrich Schiller maintained ardent relationships with both von
Lengefeld sisters, often communicating through neatly folded missives. Of
course it was a secret, but only from society and not the siblings themselves. Naturally,
there were complications, developing and intensifying over the course of years
in Dominik Graf’s Beloved Sisters (trailer here), which screens in
its one hundred seventy minute entirety as a Main Slate selection of the 52nd New York Film Festival.
The
von Lengefeld’s are technically aristocrats, but they hardly have a Mark to
their names—hence Caroline’s marriage to the wealthy but boorish von Beulwitz.
It is an unhappy union, but it provides the necessary support for Lengefeld’s
younger sister Charlotte and their overbearing mother. Reluctantly resigned to
her fate, Caroline tries to spend as much time as she can with her sister, who
has been entrusted to her socially connected godmother, in hopes she can
arrange a suitable match for “Lollo.”
As
a commoner known to advocate a radical Enlightenment philosophy, Schiller would
hardly qualify. Nonetheless, when the younger von Lengefeld sister spies him
from her window, he makes quite the roguish impression. When Caroline subsequently
meets him during a holiday, she is also quite taken. It eventually leads to an
understanding of sorts to share Schiller as best they can. Of course, this is
easier said than done, especially for a married woman like Caroline von
Beulwitz. Eventually marital statuses will change, but the two sisters’
respective relationships with Schiller, Lolllo’s future husband, will necessarily
remain unequal. This consequently leads to almost three hours worth of drama.
Yes,
Beloved essentially revolves around a
sort of ménage a trois situation, but Graf emphasizes the literary and
philosophical tenor of the times more than the potential luridness of his
subject matter. In fact, the film is relatively chaste all things considered,
but there is still plenty of passion and jealousy. Yet, bigger issues loom over
their private scandals, especially the French Revolution, which initially
thrills and then horrifies Schiller and his intellectual circle.
Like
the three-hour historical epics of old, Beloved
is a big, chewy melodrama, filled with simmering yearning and cold sweats.
Supposedly inspired by Schiller only letter to Caroline she did not manage to destroy
before her death, Graf’s screenplay relies on considerable speculation, but the
earnestness of the central trio gives it all the ring of truth.
While
Caroline might have the short end of the ménage, Hannah Herzsprung gets the juiciest
scenes as the divorcee turned romance novelist, making the most of them. It is
a wonderfully complex and tragic character. However, Lollo is no shrinking
violet either, nicely played by Henriette Confurius, who convincingly segues
from her youthful coquetry to her more mature resolve. If anyone is
underwritten here, it is Schiller, but Florian Stetter portrays him with enough
charismatic likability to suspend disbelief and generally hold the proceedings
together.