For the hopeless romantics, “Young Goethe in Love” is a fantastic, enchanting romantic comedy!
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DVD TITLE: Young Goethe in Love
YEAR OF FILM: 2010
DURATION: 102 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Widescreen 2:35:1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
COMPANY: Music Box Films
RELEASE DATE: April 24, 2012
Directed by Philipp Stölzl
Screenplay by Alexander Dydyna, Christoph Muller, Philipp Stölzl
Producer: Christoph Muller, Helge Sasse
Executive Producer: Peter Hartwig, Matthias Triebel
Associate Producer: Alexander Dydyna
Co-Produced by Christian Angermayer, Sven Burgemeister, Klaus Dohle, Nick Hamson, Michael Herbig, Marco Kreuzpaintner, Anatol Nitschke, Yasin Qureshi, Fabian Wolfart
Line Producer: Patricia Barona
Music by Ingo Frenzel
Cinematography by Kolja Brandt
Edited by Sven Budelmann
Production Design by Udo Kramer
Starring:
Alexander Fehling as Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Miriam Stein as Lotte Buff
Moritz Bleibtreu as Albert Kestner
Volker Bruch as Wilhelm Jerusalem
Burghart Klaubner as Vater Buff
Henry Hubchen as Johann Kaspar Goethe – Vater
Hans-Micahel Rehberg as Gerichtprasident Kammermeier
Anna Bottcher as Hausmadchen
Germany 1772 – the young and tumultuous Johann Goethe (Alexander Fehling) aspires to be a poet; but after failing his law exams, he is sent by his father (Henry Huebchen) to a sleepy provincial court to mend his ways. Unsure of his talent and eager to prove himself, Goethe soon wins the praise and friendship of his superior Kestner (Moritz Bleibtreu). But then Lotte (Miriam Stein) enters his life and nothing is the same as before. However, the young lovers are unaware that her father has already promised Lotte’s hand to another man.
Director Phillip Stölzl (North Face) returns to the very wellspring of Romanticism – Goethe’s autobiographical masterpiece The Sorrows of Young Werther – and conjures up a beguiling and refreshingly innocent period romance.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the legendary German writer and the man of all talents, from art to science and considered a genius of modern German literature who is known for his works of poetry, drama, philosophy and science.
Known for his drama “Faust” and the “Marienbad Elegy” to name a few, when it comes to romance stories, Goethe will forever be remembered for his short epistolary and loosely autobiographical novel titled “Die Leiden des jungen Werthers” (The Sorrows of Young Werther), which was published back in 1774.
It was a novel that was inspired by pain of loving someone so much, but yet not being able to be with them. Pain of losing someone and for love, a sacrifice had to be made.
Suffice to say, “The Sorrows of Young Werther” was a hit and a novel that would propel Goethe to superstar status and even created a fad in which many young men would take their lives because some interpreted “suicide” as the best form of showing one’s love and despair.
It was a story written by a Goethe as a young adult, while he was studying law in Leipzing. While studying law, he met a girl and through circumstance, “The Sorrows of Young Werther” was inspired by his love for Charlotte Buff.   A story about two people who loved each other but were unable to be together because she was arranged to marry someone else and keep the family financially supported, while the tragedy was inspired by his friend Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem, who killed himself after the woman he had an affair with, chose her husband over him. But also the disdain of how people who committed suicide were treated posthumously at the time (people who killed themselves were looked at with the lowest disdain).
While Goethe did use the name of Werther, the real life Goethe was not so pleased about the popularity of his novel as he learned that it also outed his real relationship with Charlotte Buff, who was already married to Johann Christian Kestner. Also, for Goethe, he didn’t like how most people knew of him only through this work despite authoring other novels and literary work and disliked how he was pigeonholed as part of the Romantic movement.
Needless to say, to this day, “The Sorrows of Young Werther” is looked at as impressive romantic novel and a storyline that has been romanticized through other books and poetry. And once again, the story of Goethe and his relationship has been romanticized by director/writer Philipp Stölzl (“North Face”, “Rammstein: Lichtspielhaus”, “Baby”) and fellow co-writers Christoph Muller and Alexander Dydyna for the 2010 film “Goethe!” (aka in the U.S. as “Young Goethe in Love”).
And the film will now be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Music Box Films in April 2012.
“Young Goethe in Love” is a loosely-based historical romantic comedy about a young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. A young man who loves to write poetry but because his strict father expects him to become a lawyer, Goethe is a law student.
Unfortunately, due to his passion of writing, Goethe has not studied any of his law books and fails a major test. So, his father, Johann Kaspar Goethe, a well-known lawyer, is disappointed of his son’s ambition to be a writer and insists that he become a lawyer. So, young Goethe (played by Alexander Fehling) is enrolled at a prestigious law school in Leipzig in a place where he must learn the judicial rules by heart. And supervising him is the ambitious lawyer, Alert Kestner (played by Moritz Bleibtreu).
While at the school, he befriends Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem (played by Volker Bruch) and both men end up going out at nights. While at a dance, Goethe meets Lotte Buff (played by Miriam Stein), a young woman who accidentally spills red wine on Goethe and needless to say, their first encounter does not go to well.
The two young men then go to a church where they go find women and while they listen to the women sing, one of the women is Charlotte Buff, the woman that Goethe ran into at the party. While both Goethe and Karl introduce themselves to Charlotte and their friend, both men leave the church immediately when they spot Albert Kestner.
Lotte’s father introduces his daughter to Albert Kestner, while Goethe is intrigued by Lotte that he wants to see her again. Goethe also shows his passion for poetry and tells Karl about how he loves to write but his father has forbidden it. Karl is struck by how passionate Goethe’s poetry is and tries to make his friend feel better about not pursuing his passion by paying a visit to the home of Lotte Buff.
As both young men visit Lotte at her home, they find out that she has many, many siblings and literally takes care of her siblings since her mother’s passing over a year ago. Lotte’s father is close to retiring and worries about his family’s well-being, as the family members are trying to survive.
And immediately, both Goethe and Karl are well-liked by the Buff children as Goethe helps cook bread for the family and plays with the children. And as Karl tells Lotte about his passion for poetry, being a fan of it, she wants Goethe to showcase his passion of poetry to her, but Goethe does not.
As the young men depart, both hope they can still keep in contact.
And as time passes, both Goethe and Lotte start to realize they have fallen for each other and can’t wait to hear from one another. But to their stubbornness, they both await a letter from each other which does not come.
So, the two decide to see each other and confess their love…and for the first time, Goethe shows her his love for poetry and she is stunned by his true talent. Both Goethe and Lotte consummate their love with one another and it looks as if these two individuals are destined for each other.
But unbeknown to Lotte, because of the financial situation of the family, she has been arranged to marry ambitious and wealthy lawyer Albert Kestner. While she does not love him, she knows that she must marry him in order to take care of the family.
Meanwhile, Goethe does not know his supervisor, Albert is seeing Lotte and thus gives him advice on asking his girlfriend to marry him, not knowing that the woman that Albert Kestner is talking about is Lotte.
And as Goethe feels love in his heart for Lotte, his friend Karl is courting a married woman and loves her to death. But she is stuck between her love for Karl and her husband.
And through his love for Lotte Buff and his friendship with Karl, life will begin to spiral downward for young Goethe as the experience with these two individuals will take him through the darkest moment of his life, a dark moment which will lead Goethe to create his epistolary, “The Sorrows of Young Werther”.
VIDEO, AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Young Goethe in Love” is presented in widescreen 2:35:1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. It’s important to note that I am reviewing a DVD screener of “Young Goethe in Love” and not the final DVD version.  So, I am unable to discuss the overall picture quality of the film.
What I will say is that there are beautiful cinematography moments courtesy of Kolja Brandt. The scene featuring both Goethe and Lotte together in the rain as they share their first kiss is an amazing scene and shot wonderfully. The set and costume design captures the look and feel of the late 1700’s and for the most part, I was enjoying the overall cinematography and thinking how beautiful this film would look on Blu-ray.
As for the audio, audio is clear and while there are moments of gun shots that can be heard through the surround channels and some crowd-based ambiance, “Young Goethe in Love” is a dialogue-driven film. As for subtitles, subtitles are in English and are easy to read.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Young Goethe in Love” comes with three special features (which were not included in our screener, so I am unable to comment on them):
- The Making of “Young Goethe in Love”
- The Visual Effects of Goethe
- Theatrical and International Trailers
For the hopeless romantics, “Young Goethe in Love” is a fantastic, enchanting romantic comedy!
And while there are people who disdain dramatizations of historical individuals, especially one as notable as Johann Goethe and creating a romantic story revolved around the creation of his well-known epistolary and loosely-based autobiographical novel, it all comes down to one’s appreciation for romantic films and also romantic comedy.
While “The Sorrows of Young Werther” is a love story that captures a young man’s pain and broken heart after knowing that he can’t be with the woman he loves, because of her family commitment, what I enjoyed about “Young Goethe in Love” was how the writers were able to craft a story integrating Lotte Buff in somewhat of a more positive character for Goethe.
In the novel, the character of Werther makes the ultimate sacrifice for his love for Lotte. In the film, loosely-based on the real life situation between Goethe and Lotte, it is Lotte who makes a sacrifice for her love towards Goethe, but it’s a sacrifice that you don’t see coming and leaves you with a smile on your face because although this is a romantic film, it’s a romantic film where both people can not be together due to circumstances, but they make one last effort not by physical contact, but by action to show their love.
So, in many ways, the basis of Goethe’s “The Sorrows of Young Werther” is a testament to a love that can not be shared in reality, but a love that will forever live in poetry. How romantic is that?
The performances by both Alexander Fehling and Miriam Stein were delightful and fantastic, cinematography, costume and set design were well-done and a screenplay that manages to balance the romantic drama and comedy fairly well. And enough to keep the storyline from straying into banality.
Overall, “Young Goethe in Love” is a film that will captivate the hopeless romantics and may turn off those who have a disdain towards dramatizations of well-known figures. But in the end, I have to say it has been many, many years since I have been captivated by a recent romantic drama and I have to say that “Young Goethe in Love” is a delightful, wonderful film that will no doubt captivate the hopeless romantic within you.
Definitely recommended!
Note: Review rating is based on film, not the DVD
