Films byTexts by Ernst Lubitsch
Article NL EN
13.07.2022
Trouble in Paradise by Ernst Lubitsch

Trouble in Paradise is a crook film – and not only because it’s about crooks. It reveals imposture to be the essence of cinema. Film, says Leenhardt, is the art of ellipsis – what else are theft, fraud and imposture? Skipping links, creating seemingly or only outwardly conclusive connections between originally unrelated elements: that is the art of filmmakers and con artists, the essence of their respective means of expression. 

FILM
Design for Living
Ernst Lubitsch, 1933, 91’

A woman does not want to decide between two men who love her, and the trio agree to a “gentleman’s agreement”, to try living together in a platonic relationship.

 

Gilda: It’s true we had a gentleman’s agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman.

FILM
The Shop Around the Corner
Ernst Lubitsch, 1940, 99’

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realizing that they’re falling in love through the post as each other’s anonymous pen pal.

 

Article NL EN
29.01.2020
Trouble in Paradise van Ernst Lubitsch

Trouble in Paradise is een schurkenfilm – en niet enkel omdat hij over schurken gaat. Hij ontmaskert oplichterij als de essentie van cinema. Film, zegt Leenhardt, is de kunst van de ellips – wat zijn diefstal, bedrog en oplichterij anders? Tussenschakels overslaan, schijnbaar of alleen uiterlijk sluitende verbanden tot stand brengen tussen oorspronkelijk onsamenhangende elementen: dat is de kunst van de cineast en de bedrieger, de essentie van hun respectievelijke expressiemiddelen.

Article NL
29.01.2020
Filmtips

Van 1970 tot 1986 verschenen in het dagblad Süddeutsche Zeitung wekelijks Frieda Grafe’s Filmtips, korte commentaren op het filmaanbod in München, vaak slechts één zin per film. Sabzian selecteerde en vertaalde acht Filmtips.

FILM
Forbidden Paradise
Ernst Lubitsch, 1924, 86’

“American cinema seemed to achieve perfection at that time: perfection of the cut, perfection of the stitching, perfection of the fabric. There is not haute couture only in Paris, just as there is not ‘haute production’ only in Hollywood.