An Illicit Love Story
(Verbotene Liebe)
Verbotene Liebe © DEFA-Stiftung, Herbert Kroiss
| Dziuba, Helmut |
| Dziuba, Helmut |
| Jakubeit, Peter |
| Schindler, Monika |
| Bergmann, Helmut |
| Röske, Heinz |
| Hersmann, Elke |
| Steyer, Christian |
| Brendler, Julia |
| Dahm, Hans-Peter |
| Dietrich, Rolf |
| Gregorek, Karin |
| Gütschow, Gert |
| Kipp, Heide |
| Körner, Dietrich |
| Koschel, Uta |
| Ritter, Gudrun |
| Röhl, Bärbel |
| Sodann, Peter |
Synopsis
The 18-year-old high school student Georg is on trial for sexually abusing a 13-year-old. Barbara and Georg have known each other since childhood and grew up together as neighbors. But their parents don’t go along with each other because of political and social reasons, and their neighboring timber fence changes soon to a metal fence and later stone wall. For Barbara’s father the relationship between the two is a welcoming reason to press criminal charges against the neighbor’s son. The judicial proceedings cannot be prevented but the love between the two, which is forbidden by law, seems stronger than all external resistance.
Content Warning: sexual assault, nudity, domestic violence, vocabulary
Commentary
The film’s story takes place during the last days before the fall of the Berlin Wall in fall 1989 and offers many references to current political events and discussions, including about the existing educational system and lack of free speech. The story of the teacher in The Illisit Love Story is comparable with the desires and ideals of the teacher in the banned film Carla (1965/1990, dir. Herrmann Zschoche).
The tender Romeo and Juliet story turns into an interesting evaluation of contradictions between existing, strict laws and the more lawyered reality. E.g. the lawyer and the judges raise the questions during the court procedures in the final scenes of the film: Who is responsible for the situation that is now under investigation—the school, parents—and do we have to modernize the old law? How should one assess a legal decision and reach a verdict? Is the love between Georg and Barbara a criminal offense, considering that the parents used the situation to solve their disputes? To what extend offers the law a broader interpretation and can consider reality?
Information about the law that is discussed in the film:
The Strafgesetzbuch der DDR (GDR Penal Code) defined a child, a person under the age of fourteen. A juvenile within the meaning of the law e was anyone who was over fourteen but under eighteen years of age.
GDR Penal Code § 148: Sexual Abuse of Children
(1) Any person who abuses a child for sexual acts shall be punished with imprisonment of up to five years or a sentence on probation.
(2) Any person who negligently causes substantial harm to a child or has already been convicted for such an act shall be liable to imprisonment for two to eight years.
(3) Any person who negligently causes the death of a child by the act shall be liable to a prison sentence of not less than five years:
(4) Attempt is punishable.
(5) A child within the meaning of this Penal Code is a person under the age of fourteen.
Awards
| 1991 | Recent Films from Germany, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA |
| 1990 | Best Supporting Actress (Gudrun Ritter), 6th GDR Feature Film Festival in Berlin |
Press comments
“Helmut Dzuiba’s An Illicit Love Story is another ‘pre-unification film’ that described what was pushing for changes. What the film shows is not, of course, out of date. It could well take place in a similar way in a village in West Germany. No ‘united fahterland’ will offer protection against a loveless environment.” —Heinz Kersten, Der Tagesspiegel, 1990
“Romeo and Juliet in the GDR! [The film] provides authentic insight into family life in east Germany in the 1980.” —absolutMedien
“…is a film that […] makes clear that deformations and pent-up pressure led to the GDR ‘October Revolution.’ Incidentally, the film is not primarily a political confrontation with the old conditions. But first and foremost, this film tells a strong and exciting love story between two very young people.” —Constanze Pollatschek, taz
"A little masterpiece. A sensitively told Romeo and Juliet in the village story. Everything is told lightly and very precisely, even in the dialogues." —Leipziger Volkszeitung
"A variation on the well-known Romeo and Juliet motif of two lovers whose happiness is hindered by the hostilities between their families. With great sensitivity and a well-dosed portion of unspeculative eroticism, Helmut Dziuba has staged this plea for tolerance and humanity with wonderful actors. At the same time, it also repeatedly deals with general questions about ideology in the GDR." —Zauberspiegel
"It's a tender film that wants to balance innocence against guilt and that wants to tell of the rupture of standardized lives." —Cut
