Liebeskonzil

1982 1h 32m DE

🤯

9.0

MASTERPIECE

★9.0TMDB · 1

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Oskar Panizza’s The Council of Love (1895) is a blasphemous play set in 1495, during the first recorded outbreak of syphilis, which Panizza satirically presents as the punishment from Satan for sexually active humans. As a result, Panizza was imprisoned for obscenity. Schroeter alternates scenes from the Panizza’s work with a dramatization of his trial, presenting the play as an expressionist spectacle performed by actors wearing exaggerated makeup who gesture and grimace grotesquely. The film thus forms a bridge between Schroeter’s use of tableaux in his early experiments with the political urgency of his 1980s films. On the eve of the AIDS crisis, Schroeter is presciently worried about disease as an excuse for governmental repression and the oppression of sexuality. - Harvard Film Archive

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Antonio Salines
Teufel / Dr. Panizza
Magdalena Montezuma
Doppelzeugin
Kurt Raab
Gerichtspräsident
Renzo Rinaldi
Gottvater
Margit Carstensen
Staatsanwältin
Heinrich Giskes
Verteidiger
Agnès Nobecourt
Maria
Roberto Tesconi
Christus

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Werner Schroeter
Writers: Oskar Panizza, Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, Roberto Lerici
Languages: German
Countries: Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

ERA

Did you know

44 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

CRAFT

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Catherine Brasier-Snopko shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Antonio Salines and Magdalena Montezuma and Kurt Raab carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0082659 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

Only 1 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Werner Schroeter directs. Catherine Brasier-Snopko cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Germany. Dialogue in German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

144 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
3Editor Catherine Brasier-Snopko shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4Antonio Salines and Magdalena Montezuma and Kurt Raab carry the top of the cast.
5IMDB entry: tt0082659 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
6Only 1 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.