''My Heart Is Mine Alone'' (german: Mein Herz – niemandem!) is a

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Helma Sanders-Brahms Helma Sanders-Brahms (20 November 1940 – 27 May 2014) was a German film director, screenwriter and producer. Biography Helma Sanders was born on 20 November 1940 in Emden, Germany. She attended a school for acting in Hannover from 1960 to 1 ...

. A 1997 issue of ''

Jewish Currents ''Jewish Currents'' is a progressive, secular Jewish quarterly magazine and news site whose content reflects the politics of the Jewish left. It features independent journalism, breaking news, political commentary, analysis, and a "countercultura ...

'' wrote that the film is "a kind of

movie that usually requires more than one screening to decipher and is made for

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

devotees."

Plot

The story of the real-life love affair between

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

poet

Else Lasker-Schüler Else Lasker-Schüler (née Elisabeth Schüler) (; 11 February 1869 – 22 January 1945) was a German-Jewish poet and playwright famous for her bohemian lifestyle in Berlin and her poetry. She was one of the few women affiliated with the Expressi ...

and

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

poet

Gottfried Benn Gottfried Benn (2 May 1886 – 7 July 1956) was a German poet, essayist, and physician. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1951. Biography and work Family and beginnings Go ...

is told largely through their poetry throughout the film. Lasker-Schüler is forced to leave the country because of the very ideology Benn espouses, and while she drifts from country to country en route to Jerusalem, he eventually realizes his mistake when the Nazis condemn his artistic school.

Cast

Lena Stolze Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

*Thomas Ruffer as

Berthold Lasker Berthold Lasker (also, per birth registry Jonathan Berthold Barnett)per birth registry (Archiwum Państwowe Gorzów Wielkopolski, Sąd Obwodowy w Barlinku, Duplikaty księg metrykalnych gminy żydowskiej, signature 66/886/0/3/4, item 105 on the ...

*René Schubert as Noble *Katja Ruttloff as

's Sister *Anna Sanders as Edith Benn *Cornelius Obonya as

*Tomek Schulz as Young

*Christian Schlemmer as

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

*Janina Berge as Young

*Stefan Ostertag as

Franz Marc Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later b ...

*Nicolai Albrecht as

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

*Inken Schmitz as Lasker Family Member *Wolfgang Tebbe as Lasker Family Member *Dagmar Bertram as Lasker Family Member *Matthias Wessolek as Fat Cat *Klaus Bunk as

Herwarth Walden Herwarth Walden (actual name Georg Lewin; 16 September 1879, in Berlin – 31 October 1941, in Saratov, Russia) was a German expressionist artist and art expert in many disciplines. He is broadly acknowledged as one of the most important discove ...

*Sabine Panzer as

Nell Walden Nelly Anna Charlotta Walden (29 December 1887 – 21 October 1975) was a Swedish painter, art collector, and writer. A key figure in the activities of Berlin-based avant-garde magazine ''Der Sturm'', Walden was a pioneer of abstract art and was ...

*Oliver Grice as Gustav Benn *Lothar von Versen as Peter Hille *Julia Kiessling as

's Sister *Leonard Schnitman as Paul Schüler *Nikolai Sirenko as Aaron Schüler *Valentina Sirenko as Jeannette Schüler *Bruno Dunst as Professor

Release

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

Facets Multi-Media Facets Multi-Media founded in 1975, is a non-profit, 501(C)3 organization, and a leading national media arts organization. Its mission is to preserve, present, distribute, and educate about film. Besides its facilities at 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Ch ...

in 2008.

Reception

Critical opinion has been largely positive. The film was screened out of competition at the 1997

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

and was nominated for the Maverick Spirit Award at the

Cinequest Film Festival The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is ...

in 1998 as well as for the Emden Film Award at the International Filmfest Emden in 1997. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', although opining that the film was "flat," nevertheless praised the leading

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

' "charm and energy," as did ''

Metro Silicon Valley ''Metro'' is a free weekly newspaper published by the San Jose, California, based Metro Newspapers. Also known as ''Metro Silicon Valley'', as well as ''Metroactive'' online, the paper serves the greater Silicon Valley area. In addition to print ...

'' critic

Richard von Busack Richard Von Busack is an American film reviewer based in San Jose, California. He has been writing for the ''Metro Silicon Valley'' since 1985. He was also the co-host of ''CinemaScene'', with poet Morton Marcus Morton Marcus (1936–2009) wa ...

, who wrote that " rk, pocket-size and intense, Stolze has the magnetism to prove why men thought of Lasker-Schüler as an

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

vampire," and critic Ed Soohoo, who wrote that it is "wonderful to see" Lena Stolze "once again on screen as she brings life to Else." Critic Peter Nellhaus has praised the film's "expressionist collage of conventional biographical re-enactment, stylized staging, and documentary" and wrote that he regards it as a "truthful film."

References

External links

* * *
''My Heart Is Mine Alone''
at the

TCM Movie Database Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

''Mein Herz – niemandem!''
at Film Portal {{Helma Sanders-Brahms 1990s biographical drama films 1990s historical drama films 1997 films Biographical films about writers Films about Jews and Judaism Films about Nazi Germany Films based on poems Films directed by Helma Sanders-Brahms Films set in Jerusalem Films set in the 1860s Films set in the 1870s Films set in the 1880s Films set in the 1890s Films set in the 1900s Films set in the 1910s Films set in the 1920s Films set in the 1930s Films set in the 1940s Films set in the 1950s German avant-garde and experimental films German biographical drama films German historical drama films 1990s German-language films Films about Nazis 1990s avant-garde and experimental films 1997 drama films 1990s German films