"Effi Briest" — GDR Television, 1970; Screenplay and Direction: Wolfgang Luderer

Literature on Film: The screening features a 1970 GDR television adaptation of Fontane’s novel *Effi Briest*, which was also shown in theaters and stood out for its excellent dialogue and outstanding actors, including the (recently deceased) Angelica Domröse, Horst Schulze, Inge Keller, and Gerhard Bienert.

Fontane is regarded as the literary mirror of Prussia. His poetic and realistic portrayals of women in the social context of their century—the Wilhelmine era—are famous and beloved.

“Effi Briest” is regarded as a turning point in realism and a precursor to the later great social novel. The story has been adapted four times in German cinema alone.

About the story:

Effi Briest is a vivacious young woman from the Markish nobility who marries Baron von Instetten, a man 20 years her senior. But the marriage is stifling and oppressive, and the young woman is neglected. As a result, she begins an affair with Major von Crampas.

A catastrophe is looming.