Effi Briest

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Effi Briest

2009,

1h 52m,

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

70%

10 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

70%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

72%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Tragedy follows when a baron's (Sebastian Koch) unhappy bride (Julia Jentsch) has a steamy affair with a dashing officer (Misel Maticevic).

Tony Rayns

Time Out

Jan 26, 2006

Filmed in black and white, with extraordinary delicacy and reserve, this is one of Fassbinder's best films.

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Vincent Canby

New York Times

May 20, 2003

4/5

It's visually beguiling -- its cameramen having found shades of gray between black and white I'm not sure I've seen before -- and it is performed by the Fassbinder stock company with the precision and style one seldom finds outside the legitimate theater.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Jan 1, 2000

The slow, deliberate pace is sometimes taxing, but this story of a 16-year-old girl locked in the boredom of a loveless marriage is perfectly suited to Fassbinder's stifling mise-en-scene.

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Andrew Parker

The Gate

Aug 28, 2018

The best collaboration between Fassbinder and frequent star Schygulla, who delivers a truly affecting turn in the title role.

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Clancy Sigel

The Spectator

Aug 4, 2015

It's so visually boring, insanely talkative, arrogantly formalistic.

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

May 15, 2006

A

Compelling viewing for the delicate way it unfolds and leaves a tingling feeling there's a lot more going on than it seems.

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Poe L

Jan 16, 2017

Young Effi Briest marries an older man and moves to a small town. It's not a particular happy marriage, and she forms a close friendship with an associate of her husband Major Crampus. Years later, after moving to Berlin, letters surface that lead her husband to believe that there was an illicit affair between them. A fairly deliberately confounding film, even for Fassbinder. It's told in a fairly oblique style with several key scenes happening off screen, and is interspersed with narration, on screen captions and a lot of novelistic devices. It's a long film that consists mainly of sets of characters talking in carefully arranged, static shots. Most of these conversations don't really drive the plot. That may sound like I disliked the film, but I was really quite taken with it.

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Hermine Huntgeburth

Director

Julia Jentsch

Effi Briest

Sebastian Koch

Geert von Instetten

Misel Maticevic

Major von Crampas

Juliane Köhler

Luisa von Briest

Thomas Thieme

Herr von Briest

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Synopsis

Tragedy follows when a baron's (Sebastian Koch) unhappy bride (Julia Jentsch) has a steamy affair with a dashing officer (Misel Maticevic).

Director: Hermine Huntgeburth
Screenwriter: Volker Einrauch
Production Co: Constantin Film Produktion
Genre: Drama
Original Language: German
Runtime: 1h 52m

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