''Love's Confusion'' () is an

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film directed by Slátan Dudow. It was released in 1959.

Plot

Students Dieter and Sonja, who have been a couple for several years, attend a masquerade. Dieter confuses young Siegi with his friend and dances with her. He cannot forget her even after realizing she is not Sonja, and falls in love with her. Sonja, bitter and jealous, starts an affair with Siegi's boyfriend, Edy. The two new couples go on vacation in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

, where they encounter each other several times while enjoying the local attractions. They all resolve to marry their new partners. Only when they are headed toward the same registrar's office, do they realize their behavior was motivated by spite and anger. They again switch partners: Sonja marries Dieter and Siegi marries Edy.

Cast

* Angelica Domröse: Siegi * Annekathrin Bürger: Sonja * Willi Schrade: Dieter * Stefan Lisewski: Edy * Martin Flörchinger: Professor Boerwald * Erik S. Klein: Professor for social sciences * Friedrich Richter (actor), Friedrich Richter: Professor Böck * Werner Dissel: taxi driver * Ursula Fröhlich: Sonja's mother

Production

''Love's Confusion'' was Dudow's last film. Influenced by the relaxed political climate ushered with the

Khrushchev Thaw The Khrushchev Thaw (, or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s when Political repression in the Soviet Union, repression and Censorship in ...

, the picture was unprecedentedly libertine in regards to sexuality . The film was the screen debut of actress Angelica Domröse, who had been selected from among 800 candidates interested in the role. Principal photography lasted eleven months. Dudow's work greatly exceeded the approved budget, which was originally set on 2,309,500

East German Mark The East German mark ( ), commonly called the eastern mark ( ) in West Germany and after German reunification, reunification, was the currency of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Its ISO 4217, ISO 4217 currency code w ...

; additional costs reached some 925,000 DDM. Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler published an article in ''

Neues Deutschland (, , abbr. nd) is a left-wing German daily newspaper, headquarters, headquartered in Berlin. For 43 years it was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which governed East Germany (officially known as the ...

'' critical of the delays and expenditures. In addition, the director faced difficulties in including a scene featuring nude bathing. While the DEFA studio insisted on its removal, Dudow attempted to preserve it by turning it into a dream sequence; he appealed to Minister of Culture Alexander Abusch, a former

naturist Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms a ...

who appeared in Dudow's 1932 '' Kuhle Wampe'' as a nude extra. Abusch submitted the request directly to

Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; ; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar republic, Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later in the early development ...

, who denied it.

Reception

''Love's Confusion'' sold 1,900,000 tickets in East Germany. While it was not met with approval by government officials and the cultural establishment, it enjoyed great popularity with audiences, becoming "a huge hit." ''

'' critic Horst Knietzsch wrote that the film was "an attempt to demonstrate in an amusing fashion the victorious strength of socialist life." '' Der Morgen'' reviewer Christoph Funke commented that "the love of young people today... Knows no tragic consequences, since it is rooted in socialist order." West German Heinz Kersten noted that ''Love's Confusion'' was "refreshing" as it virtually lacked a political message, a rare feature in East German cinema. Antonin and Miera Liehm defined the film as an "exception among DEFA's productions and an honorable conclusion of Dudow's career."Liehm. p. 265.

References

Bibliography

* Joshua Feinstein. ''The Triumph of the Ordinary: Depictions of Daily Life in the East German Cinema, 1949–1989''. University of North Carolina Press (2002). . * Miera Liehm, Antonin J. Liehm. ''The Most Important Art: Soviet and Eastern European Film After 1945''. University of California Press (1977). * Hans-Michael Bock, Tim Bergfelder. ''The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema''. Berghahn Books (2009). . * Dagmar Schittly. ''Zwischen Regie und Regime. Die Filmpolitik der SED im Spiegel der DEFA-Produktionen''. Links (2002). . * Ingrid Poss. ''Spur der Filme: Zeitzeugen über die DEFA''. Links (2006). . * Heinz Kersten. ''Das Filmwesen in der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone Deutschlands''. Bundesministerium für Gesamtdeutsche Fragen (1963). ASIN B0000BK48Q.

External links

* *
Verwirrung der Liebe
'. cinema.de. *
Verwirrung der Liebe
'. progress-film.de. *

'. filmportal.de. {{Slatan Dudow 1959 films East German films 1950s German-language films Films set in Berlin German romantic comedy films 1959 romantic comedy films Films set in the Baltic Sea Films directed by Slatan Dudow 1950s German films