', known in English as ''Class Relations'', in French as ', is a 1984 film by the French filmmaking duo of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet. It is based on

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

's unfinished first novel, '' Amerika''. The German filmmaker

Harun Farocki Harun Farocki (9 January 1944 – 30 July 2014) was a German filmmaker, author, and lecturer in film. Early life and education Farocki was born as Harun El Usman FaroqhiMargalit Fox (3 August 2014)''New York Times''. in Neutitschein, which is n ...

appears as one of the leads, and the film also features a cameo from American experimental filmmaker Thom Andersen. Farocki made a documentary about the filming process, '.

Plot

The film closely follows the narrative of the novel, depicting the journey of Karl Rossmann, a young man who is sent to America by his parents. As soon as he boards the ship, he encounters a discontented stoker and intervenes in a dispute between the stoker and the ship's captain. To Karl's surprise, the ship's captain turns out to be his uncle, whom he barely knew existed. His uncle welcomes him into his home upon their arrival in America. However, Karl's situation takes a turn when he agrees to help a friend of his uncle's and is subsequently disowned. Now adrift in America, Karl befriends Delamarche and Robinson, whom he meets while staying at an inn. He struggles to find stable employment, eventually landing a job as a lift operator at a hotel. Despite finding some stability, Karl's job is jeopardized when he shelters a drunken Robinson in their shared dormitory. This act leads to Karl being accused of misconduct and losing his job. His journey continues with a series of setbacks and humiliations, culminating in him finding work at the Oklahoma Theater, where he performs menial technical tasks.

Cast

* Christian Heinisch as Karl Roßmann * Nazzareno Bianconi as Giacomo *

Mario Adorf Mario Adorf (; born 8 September 1930) is a German actor, considered to be one of the great veteran character actors of European cinema. Since 1954, he has played both leading and supporting roles in over 200 film and television productions, am ...

as Onkel *

Laura Betti Laura Betti ( Trombetti; May 1 1934 – 31 July 2004) was an Italian actress known particularly for her work with directors Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Bernardo Bertolucci. She had a long friendship with Pasolini and made a docume ...

as Brunelda *

as Delamarche *

Manfred Blank ''Manfred: A dramatic poem'' is a Closet drama, closet drama written in 1816–1817 by Lord Byron. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of Gothic ...

as Robinson * as Heizer * Anna Schnell as Line * Klaus Traube as Kapitän *

Georg Brintrup Georg Brintrup (born 25 October 1950) is a German-Italian film director, screenwriter and film producer, producer, known for his Non-narrative film, non-narrative film essays on poetry and music as well as his biographical films. Life and caree ...

as Student * Hermann Hartmann as Oberkassierer * Gérard Semaan as Schubal * Jean-François Quinque as Stewart * Villi Vöbel as Pollunder

Style

As Franz Kafka never visited the United States, the film was shot in Europe, with the bulk of shooting occurring in Germany. The film features prominently architecture, flora and costuming (including a policeman in a bobby helmet) that is unlikely to be found in the United States. Only a handful of shots were shot on location in the United States, including the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...

and the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

. Though Huillet and Straub are both French, the film was shot in German, the book's original language. The film was shot on black-and-white 35mm Kodak film stock by French cinematographer

William Lubtchansky William Lubtchansky (26 October 1937 – 4 May 2010) was a French cinematographer. Biography Lubtchansky's first film was Agnès Varda's 1965 short, ''Elsa la Rose''. He shot over 100 films, including several for Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivett ...

. Like all other Straub-Huillet films, it only uses location sound recorded at the same time as the image, emphasizing cinema's documentary nature over the pictorial.

Awards

The film was entered into the

34th Berlin International Film Festival The 34th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 17–28 February 1984. The festival opened with ''The Noah's Ark Principle'' by Roland Emmerich. The retrospective was dedicated to German-American actor, screenwriter, producer an ...

where it won an Honourable Mention.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Klassenverhaltnisse 1984 films 1980s avant-garde and experimental films 1980s historical drama films 1984 independent films 1980s business films Films about cities Films about education Films about social class Films based on works by Franz Kafka Films based on Austrian novels Films directed by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet Films set in department stores Films set in New York City Films set in the 1920s Films set on ships Films shot in New York City Foreign films set in the United States French avant-garde and experimental films French black-and-white films French historical drama films French independent films German avant-garde and experimental films German black-and-white films German historical drama films German independent films 1980s drama road movies German drama road movies West German films 1980s German-language films 1980s French films 1980s German films