192 Coup de grâce

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Martha
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:53 pm
Location: all up in thurr

192 Coup de grâce

#1 Post by Martha » Sat Feb 12, 2005 8:30 pm

Coup de grâce

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Latvia, 1919: the end of the Russian Civil War. An aristocratic young woman (brilliantly played by Margarethe von Trotta) becomes involved with a sexually repressed Prussian soldier. When she is rejected by her love, the young woman is sent into a downward spiral of psychosexual depression, promiscuity, and revolutionary collaboration. A startling tale of heartbreak and violence set against the backdrop of bloody revolution, Volker Schlöndorff's Coup de grâce is a powerful film that explores the interrelation of private passion and political commitment.

Disc Features

- New digital transfer, enhanced for widescreen televisions
- Video interview with director Volker Schlöndorff and screenwriter/star Margarethe von Trotta
- New and improved English subtitle translation


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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

#2 Post by zedz » Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:50 pm

Although Schlondorff is definitely a second-tier representative of the New German Cinema, as far as I'm concerned, it's hard to take issue with any of his films that have been included in the Criterion Collection to date, much as I'd love to see them release some (any!) Wenders, Herzog, Straub or Kluge.

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum is one of the authentic cornerstones of the movement, The Tin Drum was arguably its biggest commerical splash, and Young Torless its first feature. Which leaves Coup de grace, which I've just seen for the first time. It's an excellent, tightly wound, film, and it delivers a truly great final shot, which in one elaborate movement shifts from remote and eye-of-God to uncomfortably close and subjective - just as the narrative demands a similar kind of decision (i.e. whose story is this, after all?)

Schlondorff and von Trotta dampen down the incipient melodrama of the story (frustrated love in a war zone) with the austerity of their writing, directing and acting choices. The film is shot and edited with a cold precision that's well suited to the subject matter.

Criterion's sole extra is excellent - an extended interview with Schlondorff and von Trotta that's nearly half the length of the movie and very thorough. It's the kind of extra that basically makes a director commentary redundant. The single oddity about it is that the film extracts used to illustrate the interview come from a noticeably crappier transfer of the film than the feature on the disc. This is particularly noticeable in the night-time air raid sequence, which looks quite different with pallid, muddy blacks. This alternative transfer also includes an alternative ending, with text over the fade to white. Von Trotta comments on the two versions (the text was added by the producer, von Trotta originally disliked it but has changed her view in the intervening years), but the precise history of the version of the film on the disc is not clarified (I'm assuming it was the German release version).

Anyway, an excellent film and disc well worth tracking down.

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nyasa
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 5:05 am
Location: UK

#3 Post by nyasa » Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:06 am

If this reappears at budget price at CD-Wow (I bought it a couple of weeks back for about 12 bucks), snap it up without hesitation.

It's a film I knew little about, but turned out to be a minor gem. Excellent performances, beautifully stark b&w photography (the battle sequence towards the end is jaw-dropping). The show is comprehensively stolen by Valeska Gert (familiar from Threepenny Opera, made 45 years before) - her turn alone is worth the price of admission.

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jbeall
Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:22 am
Location: Atlanta-ish

Re: 192 Coup de grâce

#4 Post by jbeall » Thu Jun 04, 2020 9:00 pm

Watched this last night and I think it's one of Schlöndorff's best films, and deserving of an upgrade.

There's a lot going on in 96 minutes, but the narrative is tight (with some really nice symmetries) and the acting is terrific all around (but I thought Margarethe von Trotta was exceptional). Plus, the b&w cinematography was lovely. The film does signal the shift to "whose story is it anyway?" shortly before the final shot, with Erich's voiceover narration, and 44 years on, there's something significant about that, given the (only later revealed) reasons for his refusal of Sophie's advances.

This film really snuck up on me; I didn't expect to find it as poignant as I did.

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