New Objectivity (a translation of the German ''Neue Sachlichkeit'', alternatively translated as "New Sobriety" or "New matter-of-factness") was an art movement that emerged in Germany in the early 1920s as a counter to expressionism. The term applies to a number of artistic forms, including film.

History

In film, New Objectivity reached its high point around 1929. It translated into realistic cinematic settings, straightforward camerawork and editing, a tendency to examine inanimate objects as a way to interpret characters and events, a lack of overt emotionalism, and social themes.

Notable directors

The director most associated with the movement is Georg Wilhelm Pabst. Pabst's films of the 1920s concentrate on subjects such as abortion, prostitution, labor disputes, homosexuality, and Substance dependence, addiction. His cool and critical 1925 ''Joyless Street'' is a landmark of the objective style. Pabst's 1930 pacifist sound film ''Westfront 1918'' views the World War I experience in a bleak, matter-of-fact way. With its clear denunciation of war, it was soon banned as unsuitable for public viewing. Other directors in the style included Ernő Metzner, Berthold Viertel, and Gerhard Lamprecht.

Decline

The movement ended essentially in 1933 with the fall of the Weimar Republic.

Films

Films with New Objectivity themes and visual style include: * ''Joyless Street'', 1925 * ''Secrets of a Soul'', 1926 * ''Uneasy Money (1926 film), Uneasy Money'', 1926 * ''The Love of Jeanne Ney'', 1927 * ''Accident (1928 film), Police Report: Hold-Up'', short subject, 1928 * ''People on Sunday'', 1930 * ''Westfront 1918'', 1930 An Endless Number of Great Deeds: Film Front Weimar: Representations of the First World War in German Films of the Weimar Period (1919-1933) by Bernadette Kester — Senses of Cinema
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References

{{film genres 1920s German-language films, 1930s German-language films, German silent feature films, Films of the Weimar Republic, Cinema of Germany 1920s in film 1930s in film