Die geliebten Schwestern

This is a love story from the end of the 18th century, the era of romanticism and great changes in society. The central characters of the film are Friedrich Schiller and the von Lengefelds sisters. In 1788, Schiller is already known as a young author with revolutionary ideas, although he has not yet reached the peak of his fame. Schiller spends his summer in Rudolstadt, with an impoverished noble family, the von Lengefelds. He met the youngest daughter of the family, Charlotte, earlier in Weimar, in Madame von Stein’s house, and now he also finds himself attracted to the elder sister, Caroline. The following summer belongs to the three carefree young people in love, although Caroline is already married and the girls’ mother does not approve of Schiller, who has meagre financial prospects as a potential son-in-law. However, when Schiller is elected a professor at the University of Jena, these prospects improve and Charlotte soon becomes his wife. Charlotte has vowed to share everything with her sister, and Schiller, in love with both of the women, does not resist this arrangement. The threesome’s dream is to live together in Weimar, but their private revolution against family customs and morals is very hard to sustain.

In this film, speculation and fiction are added to historical facts, e.g. Charlotte was indeed Schiller’s wife. It is believed that at the end of her life Caroline destroyed all the evidence referring to her intimate relations with Schiller. Nevertheless, their love was no secret in the intellectual circles of Weimar during their time. The playful approach to historical truth gives the film a wonderful lightness, which is further supported by its visual composition and its variety of forms and rhythms of storytelling. The period language and the political and cultural background are very prominent aspects of the film.

Germany has nominated this film as their official candidate for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Germany / Austria / Switzerland 2014