Cast
What it is about
A goldsmith so absorbed in his craft that he ends up murdering his own customers is at the centre of this film. The story reworks E. T. A. Hoffmann's novella Mademoiselle de Scuderi in a contemporary setting, the same source that inspired Paul Hindemith's 1926 opera Cardillac.
How it was made
Edgar Reitz directed this drama from West Germany in the late 1960s. Hans Christian Blech plays the title character and Rolf Becker plays Olivier, alongside a cast that includes Liane Hielscher, Werner Leschhorn and Gunter Sachs as an art collector. Reitz moves Hoffmann's plot to a modern world and focuses the conflict on the craftsman's obsessive bond with his work and with those who commission it.
Reception and legacy
The film premiered on 28 August 1969 at the Venice International Film Festival and was released in West Germany on 1 March 1970. Today it is of interest mainly as a modern adaptation of Hoffmann that engages with the operatic tradition, rather than for any widely documented popular reception.
Stills
More films by Edgar Reitz
Germany in Autumn
Home from Home
The Tailor from Ulm
Lust for Love
In Danger and Deep Distress, the Middleway Spells Certain DeathOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.