Search The Archive
Dieter is a medical student, Sonia is studying art, Siegi works in an office, Eddy is a mason. Dieter and Sonia are in love, so are Siegi and Eddy. But Siegi is fickle and Dieter is unsure of himself. Both couples quarrel and Sonia becomes engaged to Eddy and Siegi to Dieter. But, naturally, true love triumphs, and love's confusion is finally sorted out in the last reel.
This romp of a comedy in striking colour is set in the university milieu in Berlin. Complete with soda fountain (that would be the envy of any American college town), jazz bands, moonlight nude bathing scenes, it is far removed from the serious subiects that one generally expects from the East German cinema. But apart from the unusual scenes of the carefree life of the young people and the way in which they spend their leisure time, it has its serious aspects and shows the mental conflicts and difficulties of growing up and having lo make decisions. How the four characters react to one another is most realistic, and excellently portrayed. There are some unconventional twists to the plot, and the sequences of the students' masked carnival are original in treatment. Ostensibly a gay and amusing film, there is perhaps a lesson to be learned from all this.
Slaton Dudlow also directed Bertold Brecht's Kuhle Wampe - another light piece - some thirty years ago.