Le Coup De Grace (1976)

Passion and politics collide with tragically bleak results in Le Coup de Grace. Dedicating his film to French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville, director Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum) emulates Melville's fascination with themes of war, adapting (with his wife and star, Margarethe von Trotta) the novel Der Fangschuß by Marguerite Yourcenar, set in Latvia in 1919 after the end of World War I. While sporadic fighting continues in the Baltic states, naive countess Sophie (von Trotta) seals her fate by falling in love with Erich (Matthias Habich), a Prussian soldier who secretly desires Sophie's brother (in one of several vaguely handled subplots). She retaliates by supporting the Communists and, when captured, demands that Erich be her executioner. Like the repressed emotions of its characters, the drama's power is nearly subdued by Schlondorff's murky ambiguity; it helps to be familiar with the film's historical context, but Le Coup de Grace is still a worthy companion to Schlöndorff's The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, and a hauntingly atmospheric tale of wartime self-destruction. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

A Race Toward Self-Extinction

In the first shot we see Konrad and Erich running through the snow at midnight. They are both Prussian officers who have been reassigned to Konrad's ancestral home and though they arrive under a veil of mortar fire and flares, the mood is one of a midnight frolic between two lovers. When the two enter Konrads home they are greeted by what is left of Konrad's family as if they were two students who have been away at boarding school. And, although the home is a sprawling manor with wings of rooms stretching off in every direction, that night the two sleep in the same room in beds that are only a few feet apart. The next day Konrad tours the grounds of the estate with his sister Sophie and the way Schlondorff situates the two so naturally at one with the land we come to see that these ancestral lands have sacred connotations for these two. Each scene is immaculately composed and richly evocative as anything by Jean-Pierre Melville (Schlondorff dedicates the film to Melville) or Robert Bresson. Even though the film was actually made in 1976 Schlondorff elects to use black and white and the beauty of one black and white composition after another is simply stunning. Some of these compositions also recall some of Bergmans early films. After seeing his adaptations of Musil's Young Torless (1968) and now this adaptation of Yourcenar's Le Coup de Grace (1976) as well as the later Tin Drum (1979) it is clear to me that Volker Schlondorff is a master of the literary adaptation--he not only brings literary material to life (which is no easy feat for the richness of a narrative rarely translates well to screen) but with his carefully composed shots he often foregrounds things that may have been in the original text but that never caught our attention as they do when visualized. There is plenty of dialogue in this film and much literal content (not the least of which is this ripely realized historical moment) to ponder but Schlondorff visualizes each scene with such care and brings about such precise effects that I am tempted to say he exceeds the original texts with which he works.

The cinematography is of the very highest order and the thing that I continue to be impressed by and that lingers in my brain even a day and a half after I watched the film. The other impressive thing about this film is the acting and particularly the performance by Margarethe von Totta who plays Sophie. Since their parents are dead and since Konrad has been away it has fallen on Sophie's shoulders to keep the estate together but we soon find out that the troops that have been stationed at the house have not always treated her with much respect. So when Konrad returns with Erich it is immediately apparent that she feels a great sense of relief that she will no longer have to live unprotected in her home which has been appropriated by officers and now even resembles an officers club or worse, a barracks. It is also obvious that Sophie still holds a flame for Erich who was both Konrad's and her own boyhood friend. But Erich is a complex creature suffering his own wartime wounds and while both Konrad and Sophie (whose estate remains relatively intact) realize that a new age is dawning in Europe, Erich (whose family estate has already been obliterated by war) still clings to those old world order ideals like duty & asceticism as well to the the old hierarchy that preserves those clear social markers that the new world seeks to obliterate. Even though it is Konrad's house, its is Erich who lords it over the rest of the troops and servants; he clings to the war because only so long as the war lingers on will his link with the old world and its anachronistic ideals be preserved. Erich sees himself as the prince of the castle and even though Sophie seems to realize that after the war there will be no more princes and no more castles, and even though her politics favor this transformation of old world to new, she still finds herself irresistably drawn to this old world relic. Perhaps she is drawn to him because he reminds her of the past and is her only link to a time when she felt that her life was rooted and her world secure. But the only desire Erich feels is for Konrad who he imagines to be a Knight like himself--even though, alas, each time we see Konrad he seems to wither away further and further and not so much from his own war wounds as from the awareness of his own insignificance. It is a doomed aristocratic lover's triangle and what they all share is the common fate that none of their desires will ever be fulfilled. It is perhaps no fault of their own that they happen to be aristocrats in a time when aristocrats are rapidly becoming obsolete and are even targeted for being what they are, but their inability to adapt also, at times anyway, appears to be a personal failure for these old world aristocrats simply refuse to function in a world that follows no reliable patterns or set codes of behavoir.

The entire aesthetic of the film seems designed to illustrate the disconnect between each of the respective aristocrat's anachronsitic world views and reality. Again, it is not surprising that Schlondorff dedicated the film to Jean-Pierre Melville as it feels like an early Melville film in the way that it combines two seemingly disparate elements-- a classically, almost clinically, objective lens framing an almost faerytale like trio of privileged aristocrats lost in their own subjective relation to people and things. (I'm thinking here of Le Silence de la Mer & Les Enfants Terribles.) Schlondorff, like Melville before him, is brilliant at showing how each of his characters fail to connect with the outside world and how each of them are lost in their fantasy of what the world should be or once was. Erich still wants to live like a Teutonic Knight and the war allows him to foster that fantasy; Konrad is lost in an equally juvenile fantasy as he believes, or at least entertains the illusion for a short while, that once the war is over the new lords of the world will be artists and poets; but Sophie is perhaps the most tragic of the three because though she does not believe in the old order anymore, she also seems incapable of mustering any new belief in anything or allowing herself even the meagerest of new world illusions to replace the richness of the old world ones. Unlike the men she is incapable of self-deception. Finally, unlike her brother who simply fades out of life without a fight, she at least has the dignity of lucidity and leaves the world knowing full well that for her there is no life in this new world and that extinction is the only fate available to her. Margarethe von Trotta's deeply nuanced performance as the multi-faceted (victimized, hysterical, needy, seductive, vengeful, idealistic, reckless, nihilistic, resigned...) Sophie is unforgettable.

The final irony is that Erich, in a last and futile attempt to preserve the flame of a dying world, is the one who deals the final blow that ends that world forever. August 8, 2007

A substantial cinematic experience worthy of repeated viewings

There is much to relish in this fine film, maybe the Director's finest. There is the rich and beautiful black and white compositions that invest every frame with considerable aesthetic power. There are fine performances from all - grave diggers, porters, villagers, revolutionaries, aristocrats. There is stunning direction - one instance is the scene where military officer Erich - the object of desire of Sophie - enters her bedroom with her at her dressing table only to find younger military officer Plessen standing at her bedside about to light a cigarette. We know from a previous scene, that Sophie prefers to makeup her face after lovemaking and it is almost a cinematic convention of old, that lovers light up post coitus. Plessen offers Erich a cigarette, just like the gentleman Plessen is, and just like the gentleman Erich is, he takes it. As this business carries on, the camera remains still, Sophie remains still, Plessen and Erich finally stand still - all the while we the audience see the reflection of the bed in the dressing table mirror LOOMING centre stage, infesting our minds with the wildest possible imaginings no amount of explicit goings on could replace. Silence is held as tension builds and builds and at the moment perfect Erich turns and exits.
It is set towards the beginning of the 20th century at a time when the world was convulsed with KIngs and Queens and those that profited thereby fighting off change; when Nationalism had poisoned the minds of millions; when revolution and world war had laid waste a generation of European men.
The film is, I suppose a love story but it has as ONE major theme among a number the conflict between the world of men and the world of women - not just reason versus feeling but the whole panoply of honour, action, pride, duty, patriotism, class that bedevils many men and which blinds them to life.
I must add, that the final moments of the film, will remain with me forever. Without disclosing that ending, the final moments include a train, filled with soldiers trundling off in to the rest of the 20th century - and what havoc it did wreak!
But to conclude - there is, to use a cliche, something for many different types of movie goer to find in this film - man against man, violence, love, jealousy, the encroachment of change, idealism, politics, war - read at a simple or complex level. One fascinating journey is Sophie's, which in itself, is a rich one.
A brilliant film. September 9, 2006

Great film but may require some knowledge of the region to fully understand

My wife and I rented this film a year or so ago. Its an an absolutely haunting and beautiful film. Highly recommend it.

To the reviewer who wants to know why the Germans were there; most of the Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania) had large german populatiosn (most cities had German speaking majorities). In fact cities like Memel(Klapadia) and Riga were founded by Germans in the 1200 and 1300's under control of the Teutonic Knights. Even when muh of the area came under the Tsar's rule, the elite of the region remained the German noble and aristocrats. This film depicts the beginning of the end of this era after WWI when these areas gained independence from Russia. It came to a much sadder and bloodier end at the end of WWII when most Germans were expelled or murdered by the Soviets. February 3, 2006

a really nice film.

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

Known in France as "Coup De Grace" (Death-Blow) and in Germany as "Der Fangschuß" (The Catch Shot).. this is a remarkable film. Filmed in 1976 in Black and White, it has some great scenes.

It follows the story of a Baltic woman who falls in love with a Prussian soldier in the late 1910's. When she is jilted by him, she becomes very depressed and joins the Bolsheviks.

The film has some great scenery and they do a very good job at imitating the landscape as it was like almost 60 years earlier. and the fact it is in B&W gives a good nostalgic touch to it.

Unfortunately, the only special feature is an interview with the dierctor and screenwriter/actress. Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta, respectively.

Still, it is a nice film one that will be enjoyed by quite a few people. November 29, 2004

Complex tale of love and war

Le Coup de Grace takes us to Latvia after World War I. A small force of German soldiers is attempting to hold a village against partisans of the Russian Revolution. At the center of the story is a German countess, Sophie, and her family. Sophie is deeply in love with a German officer, Erich, who spurns her advances. Erich appears conflicted sexually, but we must make inferences about his deepseated confusion about who he is and what he wants.

Sophie's frustration over her inability to interest Erich in her as a lover prompts her to develop casual sexual relationships with other members of the German officer corps. Erich has contempt for Sophie and actually slaps her at a Christmas party when she becomes too familiar with a fellow officer. Viewers are unlikely to see a more complicated love story than Le Coup de Grace. Without giving away the ending, the title of the film describes well both the end of the war for the Germans and the end of the affair of Sophie and Erich.

The war between the Germans and Russian partisans is as confusing as the love story of Sophie and Erich. We are never told why the Germans are in this small village in Latvia and we are never certain who the enemy is, other than Russian communist partisans. The actual battle sequences are confusing, as is perhaps appropriate in a partisan operation. We do know that the Germans are finally ordered to leave Latvia and it is at the end of the film that the most graphic battle sequences take place.

Le Coup de Grace was filmed in black and white and this seems appropriate for this dark and somber tragedy. The performances are uniformly excellent, particulary Sophie, played by Margarethe von Trotta. The director, Volker Schlondorff seemed unable to coordinate the action in this complex story. Additionally, the pace is often painfully slow. If that was Schlondorff's intention, he has succeeded. I recommend this film with the reservations noted. November 13, 2003

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