Effi Briest is still far too young to marry when she is betrothed to Baron von Instetten. Her encounter with Major Crampas adds a temporary flurry of excitement to her life. Years later, the Baron learns of their relationship, which is now long over – with dire consequences. Fassbinder stays true to Fontane’s novel, yet creates his own unique imagery.

Based on the novel "Effi Briest" by Theodor Fontane

Effi Briest, young and carefree, is married to Baron von Instetten, a man very much her senior. Although Effi respects her husband and tries to love him, it is not a happy marriage for her. Although she too accepts social forms and conventions, she is basically a child of Nature, playful and sometimes foolish. Instetten must inevitably remain a spiritual stranger to her with his correct, stern manner and his schoolmasterly behaviour. Effi is soon bored in the small town of Kessin where the Baron is a rural councillor. The charming pharmacist Geishübler and his mistress, the singer Marietta Tripelli, are the only sources of diversion in her monotonous and lonely life. Instetten is frequently away from home, leaving Effi alone in the big house, in which she also feels a little afraid. Her fears are nurtured by her husband and the servant Johanna's tales about ghosts: they are a means of subordinating her and keeping her under control. The birth of her daughter also does little to change to Effi's bleak existence. Out of boredom and a longing for warmth, rather than for passion, she starts an affair with Crampas, an experienced seducer and one of her husband's former comrades-in-arms.

However, the secret relationship runs counter to both her open nature and her sense of duty towards her husband and social conventions, so that she now suffers from her sense of guilt. She is at first relieved and feels freer when Instetten is promoted and transferred to Berlin, but the old fears and bad conscience resurface before long. Effi is frequently ill. Instetten finds Crampas' love letters by chance one day. Although the affair ended many years ago and the Baron would like to forgive his wife, he follows his "sense of duty" and does what society expects a deceived husband to do. He shoots major Crampas in a duel and banishes Effi from the house. Cold-shouldered by society and even her own parents, she now leads a bleak and totally isolated life. The nanny Roswitha is the only person to stand by her former mistress. Her parents do not take her home until her health has deteriorated seriously. She dies shortly afterwards, having forgiven Instetten.


Fassbinder has become a distant observer describing social circumstances in EFFI BRIEST, due no doubt to the impression of political change and the end of the leftward trend that was already becoming apparent in the early seventies and no doubt also due to his confrontation with terrorism as the most radical expression of the desire for change. Fassbinder has taken a historical subject without modernizing it and even recedes behind Fontane's social criticism which was inspired by Schopenhauer. Effi Briest is played with touching childish charm by Hanna Schygulla in Fassbinder's production; she is now more than just a figure conceived as pure Nature contrasting with society and hardly conscious of her own existence; she is now both a victim and partly responsible for her fate because she accepts what will ultimately destroy her. The film's long subtitle describes the attitude of both Instetten and Effi and probably also expresses the director's personal problem: "There are many who have some idea of their capabilities and of their needs and yet mentally accept the prevailing system, supporting it through their activities, thus strengthening and confirming it."

The introduction of a narrator and the numerous insert texts (citations from Fontane and short commentaries) prevent the viewer from identifying with the figures; their actions are stripped of all reality: the actors frequently perform without a word while Fassbinder recites Fontane's text. The camera concentrates on the rooms, thus forcing the people into the background, showing them in mirrors or doorways, motionless and turned to stone, prisoners of their surroundings which seem to have acquired a dominant and totally independent existence. The black-and-white technique and the deliberate contrasts and nuances give the film's pictures added depth and less naturalism. The few views of Nature cease to be counterparts to the indoor shots; they appear like photographs, artificial outdoor arrangements. Only the narrative reveals that something is actually happening during the long settings. The beauty of the film's pictures never develops into pure aestheticism giving a transfigured view of decline; it serves only descriptive purposes, describing a sterile and inhospitable world that may be historical but has certainly not disappeared.

Production Country

Germany (DE)

Production Period

1972-1974

Production Year

1974

color

b/w

Aspect Ratio

1:1,37

Duration

Feature-Length Film (61+ Min.)

Type

Feature Film

Genre

Literary Adaptation, History Film

Topic

Violence, Love, Relationship / Family

Available Media

DVD

Original Version

German (de)

DVD

Subtitles

German (de), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (es), Portuguese (Brazil) (pt), Arabic (ar), Chinese (zh), Italian (it), Japanese (ja), Russian (ru)