Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, the great German poet and playwright was indeed too young as the story begins. He is a terrible law student in the Frankfurt of the 18th century. Failing to pass the bar exam, he makes a bad impression on the panel that are conducting the oral dissertation. His father, furious with young Johann, decides he must go to another place that will prove not to be as distracting. So young Goethe is dispatched to Wetzlar, an unsophisticated spot, quite a contrast with the city he left behind.
At the law firm where Goethe goes to work, he meets another colleague, Wilhelm, who is a kindred spirit who sees in the new arrival a friend. It is Wilhelm who introduces Johann to the local society. Johann falls hard fro the opinionated Lotte, the oldest daughter of an impoverished man. She is the oldest of seven siblings living outside the city. Johann and Wilhelm decide to pay her a visit in which young Goethe falls deeply in love with the charming young woman.
Unknown to Johann, Lotte's father sees the opportunity when the occasion arises to accept a marriage proposal for his daughter, when Johann's superior at the law firm sets his eyes on Lotte. The fact causes the young man such distress that drives him to write his sufferings into a manuscript he dedicates to his beloved Lotte, the woman he cannot have. Lotte, reading what Johann wrote in his despair decides it is worth publishing the memoirs, something that surprises Johann on his return to Frankfurt where the book is a best seller.
Directed by Philipp Stolzl, the film does not break new ground. It is a glossy account of a period in the life of the young artist whose work is revered as one of the best writers of the German language. The film is light as written for the screen by the director with Christoff Muller and Alexander Dydyna. A young Goethe as depicted in the story was quite a charmer in his dealings with the love he felt for a woman that was not meant to be his. It also conveys the fact that in spite of what his father wanted for him, Johann's mind was better suited for literature than a law career.
Alexander Fehling has the good looks demanded for the role of Goethe. Miriam Stein fares much better with her Lotte, an accomplished portrait of the young woman who must help her family that needed her sacrifice. Moritz Bleibtreu is an accomplished actor seen here as Albert Kestner, the man that won Lotte because of his wealth and social standing rather than by getting her love. Volker Bruch is seen as Wilhelm.
Our only objection we had in watching the film was the poorly colored subtitles in the version that was shown recently at the Landmark Sunshine that made us strain our eyes to follow the translation.
At the law firm where Goethe goes to work, he meets another colleague, Wilhelm, who is a kindred spirit who sees in the new arrival a friend. It is Wilhelm who introduces Johann to the local society. Johann falls hard fro the opinionated Lotte, the oldest daughter of an impoverished man. She is the oldest of seven siblings living outside the city. Johann and Wilhelm decide to pay her a visit in which young Goethe falls deeply in love with the charming young woman.
Unknown to Johann, Lotte's father sees the opportunity when the occasion arises to accept a marriage proposal for his daughter, when Johann's superior at the law firm sets his eyes on Lotte. The fact causes the young man such distress that drives him to write his sufferings into a manuscript he dedicates to his beloved Lotte, the woman he cannot have. Lotte, reading what Johann wrote in his despair decides it is worth publishing the memoirs, something that surprises Johann on his return to Frankfurt where the book is a best seller.
Directed by Philipp Stolzl, the film does not break new ground. It is a glossy account of a period in the life of the young artist whose work is revered as one of the best writers of the German language. The film is light as written for the screen by the director with Christoff Muller and Alexander Dydyna. A young Goethe as depicted in the story was quite a charmer in his dealings with the love he felt for a woman that was not meant to be his. It also conveys the fact that in spite of what his father wanted for him, Johann's mind was better suited for literature than a law career.
Alexander Fehling has the good looks demanded for the role of Goethe. Miriam Stein fares much better with her Lotte, an accomplished portrait of the young woman who must help her family that needed her sacrifice. Moritz Bleibtreu is an accomplished actor seen here as Albert Kestner, the man that won Lotte because of his wealth and social standing rather than by getting her love. Volker Bruch is seen as Wilhelm.
Our only objection we had in watching the film was the poorly colored subtitles in the version that was shown recently at the Landmark Sunshine that made us strain our eyes to follow the translation.