Berlin, Divided Heaven: From the Ice Age to the Thaw
Touring Film Series

The Legend of Paul and Paula (Die Legende von Paul und Paula)

1972, East Germany (DEFA), color, 106 min.  English subtitles
Dir.: Heiner Carow
Script: Ulrich Plenzdorf
Camera: Jürgen Brauer
Music: Peter Gotthardt (featuring hits by Die Puhdys)
Cast: Angelica Domröse, Winfried Glatzeder, Heidemarie Wenzel, Fred Delmare, Dietmar Richter-Reinick, Frank Schenk
35mm, English subtitles - renting information
VHS-NTSC, English subtitles:
DVD, English subtitles:

Synopsis:

Still the most popular DEFA Film, this classic struck a chord with its portrayal of everyday life in East Berlin in this love story between a passionate single mother and a complacent, married bureaucrat.  Paul, respectably employed but bored, is married to a woman whose only redeemable quality seems to be stunning beauty.

Paula, a single mother who works at a Prenzlauer Berg supermarket exchanging empty bottles for deposits, longs for a man and more passion in her life.  Herr Saft, a tire salesman, tries tirelessly to win Paula’s heart.  He is extremely decent and respectable, though much older than she, and seems he would be a good father to her children.  Yet Paula isn’t passionate about Saft at all.  Paula and Paul meet each other in a bar and end up falling in love.  Paul avoids deciding between her and his wife.  Paula feels betrayed and deeply hurt, and resigns herself to pretending he no longer exists.  Only then does Paul realize how much he loves Paula.  He decides to win her back – his effort is so moving that their love becomes a legend in the neighborhood, intensified by a tragic twist.

About the Director:

Heiner Carow was born on September 19, 1929 in Rostock, the son of a businessman.  As a young man, he took part in a youth theater, and in 1950 he spent the year in Berlin attending directing classes at the DEFA Studios for Young Filmmakers.  From 1952 to 1956 Carow worked as a director at the DEFA Studio for Educational and Industrial Films (Populärwissenschaftliche Filme).  Gerhard Klein served as one of his most important teachers.  In 1956 Carow made his first feature film, Sheriff Teddy, which reveals many similarities to Klein's "Berlin Films."  Since 1954 he was married to the film editor Evelyn Carow, who also had an accomplished career at DEFA.  On January 31, 1997 Carow died in Berlin.

Major Films:

Sie nannten ihn Amigo (1959), Das Leben beginnt (1960), Die Hochzeit von Länneken (1964), Die Russen kommen (1968/1987), Die Legende von Paul und Paula (1973), Ikarus (1976), Bis daß der Tod euch scheidet (1979), So viele Träume (1986), Coming Out (1989), Verfehlung (1991).

About the Scriptwriter:

Ulrich Plenzdorf was born October 26, 1934 in Berlin.  His father was an active member of the Communist Party and a photographer for the Arbeiter-Illustrierte Zeitung.  Plenzdorf attended an alternative school, then studied philosophy in Leipzig.  From 1955-58 he worked as a stagehand at the DEFA studios.  After completing military service he studied screenplay writing at the Film Academy in Bablesberg, then began working as a scriptwriter in 1964.  Plenzdorf became one of the best-known GDR writers, recognized for his youthful, biting criticism in screenplays, novels, and short stories.

Major Films:

Karla (1964), Die Legende von Paul und Paula (1973), Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. (1976) a West German television production.

Related reading:

Rinke, Andrea.  “From Models to Misfits:  Women in DEFA Films of the 1970’s and 1980’s.”  DEFA:  East German Cinema, 1946-1992.  Seán Allan and John Sandford, eds.  New York:  Berghahn, 1999.  183-203.  Also appears in: Triangulated Visions.  Women in Recent German Cinema.  Ingeborg Majer O’Sickey and Ingeborg von Zadow, eds.  Albany:  State University of New York Press, 1998.  207-218.

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