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Die Windsbraut...
Dec. 29th, 2001 12:05 pmAs it turned out, the salad didn't get made (there was too much food as it was), and the Blue Nun didn't cool fast enough (so we broke out the bottle of champagne intended for Monday night).
The film we watched after dinner, Bride of the Wind, was okay, but I would not exactly call it "romantic." It depicted the life of a young woman named Alma who was vivacious, intelligent, talented, and lived in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century. She falls in love with and marries Gustav Mahler and later has relationships with several other men of talent and genius.
Ultimately, she finds happiness with a writer (Franz Werfel). And the nature of the happiness, in large part, was due to his acceptance of her, I think.
Mahler, you see, had insisted, as a condition of marriage, that she give up her music (she composed). She loved him so much - or thought she did - that she agreed. After Mahler died, she falls in love with an artist (Oskar Kokoschka) who, in turn, tries to get her to abandon her memory of Mahler (a bust and photos), but she refuses and the incident places a non-erasable strain on the relationship. In a huff, it seemed, Kokoschka buys a commission as an officer and goes off to fight in what we now know as World War I. It is Kokoschka's painting of the two of them, titled Die Windsbraut in German, that gives the film its title.
Her second husband, Walter Gropius, was a brilliant architect. Alma had originally met Walter while recuperating at a spa after the death of one of her daughters, and apparently had an affair with him. When pressed to make a decision between him and Mahler, she sticks with the old man. After Kokoschka is reported killed on the Eastern Front, Alma hunts down Gropius and renews their relationship. Eventually they marry.
Eventually, too, Gropius insists she discard the sketches and drawings made of her by the late Kokoschka and which adorn the walls of the apartment she inherited from Mahler. She refuses. Eventually, during a party, she meets Werfel, whose personality (if not his talent) shines brightly. For reasons I cannot fathom, the last we see of Gropius is him getting into a car, in uniform, and driving off, apparently leaving Alma and Franz together.
Franz, you see, is the only person who doesn't insist that Alma change to accommodate him. In fact, when he runs across some of her old compositions, he encourages her to have them publicly performed. Which is where the film ends, in a small concert call of appreciative listeners. The screen then flashed a series of messages too small for me to see that updated the viewer on the eventual fates of the participants of the drama.
* * * Back to the translation biz again today. Galina is hoping I make enough progress to make it possible for us to go to Farmington tomorrow. Let's see how far I can get...
Cheers...
The film we watched after dinner, Bride of the Wind, was okay, but I would not exactly call it "romantic." It depicted the life of a young woman named Alma who was vivacious, intelligent, talented, and lived in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century. She falls in love with and marries Gustav Mahler and later has relationships with several other men of talent and genius.
Ultimately, she finds happiness with a writer (Franz Werfel). And the nature of the happiness, in large part, was due to his acceptance of her, I think.
Mahler, you see, had insisted, as a condition of marriage, that she give up her music (she composed). She loved him so much - or thought she did - that she agreed. After Mahler died, she falls in love with an artist (Oskar Kokoschka) who, in turn, tries to get her to abandon her memory of Mahler (a bust and photos), but she refuses and the incident places a non-erasable strain on the relationship. In a huff, it seemed, Kokoschka buys a commission as an officer and goes off to fight in what we now know as World War I. It is Kokoschka's painting of the two of them, titled Die Windsbraut in German, that gives the film its title.
Her second husband, Walter Gropius, was a brilliant architect. Alma had originally met Walter while recuperating at a spa after the death of one of her daughters, and apparently had an affair with him. When pressed to make a decision between him and Mahler, she sticks with the old man. After Kokoschka is reported killed on the Eastern Front, Alma hunts down Gropius and renews their relationship. Eventually they marry.
Eventually, too, Gropius insists she discard the sketches and drawings made of her by the late Kokoschka and which adorn the walls of the apartment she inherited from Mahler. She refuses. Eventually, during a party, she meets Werfel, whose personality (if not his talent) shines brightly. For reasons I cannot fathom, the last we see of Gropius is him getting into a car, in uniform, and driving off, apparently leaving Alma and Franz together.
Franz, you see, is the only person who doesn't insist that Alma change to accommodate him. In fact, when he runs across some of her old compositions, he encourages her to have them publicly performed. Which is where the film ends, in a small concert call of appreciative listeners. The screen then flashed a series of messages too small for me to see that updated the viewer on the eventual fates of the participants of the drama.
Cheers...
