Hostess (1976)

movie

(68)

Country: East Germany
Genres: Drama, Romance
Release: 1976-02-13
Director: Rolf Römer
Writers: Willi Brückner , Wolfgang Ebeling , Rolf Römer , Gisela Steineckert
Language: German
Stars: Annekathrin Bürger , Roswitha Marks , Marion van de Kamp , Gerhard Bienert , Gertrud Brendler , Manfred Karge , Rolf Römer , Jürgen Heinrich , Berndt Stichler , Angela Brunner
Runtime: 98 min
Awards: N/A
AKA: Hostess , Hostess , Hostessa (Poland) , Hostess (United States of America) , Elveszel, elhagylak (Hungary)
Plot: While my German is still a work in progress, I recently saw this film on German TV, and found it really interesting. It reminded me a bit of Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, in that it's a 1970s "women's film" that deals with questions of personal identity versus national identity, friendship versus sexual relationships, and women's and men's respective, and changing, roles.And while much of the film reads (at least to me) as camp today, at the same time, there are some really interesting bits. First, it has a number of montage sequences showing East Berlin in the 1970s, which are amazing to look at today, now that, 16 years after re-unification, these neighborhoods have changed drastically. Second, the protagonist's subjectivity -- her interior conflicts, memory "flashbacks," and emotional responses to changes in her life -- are often communicated by montage sequences where all kinds of different techniques are used. For example, there are fantasy sequences which are represented clearly as "a theatre of the mind," with stage-show like staging and dramatization, while other cut-away sequences use montage-type techniques in a more properly "cinematic" style. I'd guess that these are intended as "Brechtian" gestures, and because Brecht is so often mis-represented in "Western" drama and cinema, I'd like to know more about this possibility.Finally, the soundtrack, with songs by Veronica Fischer and Nina Hagen, is amazing.I've checked a DEFA catalog that I get in the mail regularly, but this hasn't been re-released, at least in the U.S. distributors' catalogs, as far as I can see. In any case, it's a great time capsule that presents issues that are still relevant; I'd love to see an English-subtitled version.
IMDB:tt0074645