Photo Album
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Made in Germany, released on the 15th of October, 1929.
Gay: 2 out of 9 |
Lesbian: 9 out of 9 |
Trans: N/A |
Queer: N/A |
There’re many suggestions of lesbianism, such as the two women under the blanket together in the reformatory and dancing closely in the brothel. Also, there’re gay characters implied at the bar—two men walk by with their arms around each other.
Elisabeth (Sybille Schmitz), a maid in the Hennings’ large house, is suddenly sent away just before Thymiane Henning’s (Louise Brooks) confirmation party. Thymiane is confused and wants to know why, but no one will tell her and they prevent her going after Elisabeth.
At her party, she receives a locket from her admirer, Count Nicolas Osdorff (André Roanne), and a diary from her aunt (Vera Pawlowa). Meinert (Fritz Rasp), an assistant pharmacists to father (Josef Rovenský), writes in it to meet him late that night and he’ll tell her what happened to Elisabeth.
Meta (Franziska Kinz), the new maid, arrives while the guests are still at the party. The men cast knowing glances at Thymiane’s father, Robert, while the women watch him with narrow, disapproving eyes. Later, Elizabeth’s body is brought to the house, she was found dead. Thymiane runs upstairs to her room, seeing Meta with her father on the way.
That night, Thymiane meets Meinert at the appointed time. He tries to seduce her and she faints. He carries her to her bedroom and, while she’s unconscious, has sex with her. Nine months later, she gives birth. The family meets to decide what should be done. Eventually, they reach the conclusion that, since Thymiane refuses to marry Meinert, they will pay a midwife to take the child and send Thymiane to a prostitute and unwed mothers reformatory.
The reformatory is strictly run by an imposing bald man (Andrews Engelmann) and his sadistic wife (Valeska Gert), who beats a gong to keep time during dinner so that all the women dip their spoons in their soup in sync and stares lecherously at one of them. Thymiane takes a page from her diary and begins to write a letter to Osdorff, begging him to try to reason with her father, who she’s sure is merely under the influence of Meta.
Osdorff’s uncle, his guardian, has thrown him out after he proves himself a failure at every art and trade he attempts. Robert, meanwhile, has married the now pregnant Meta and refuses to allow Thymiane to return home. Osdorff goes to her at the reformatory and tells her to steal the keys and meet him outside that night and they’ll run away together.
After lights-out in the reformatory, all the women have candles lit and entertain themselves, with some groups playing cards, others talking, and one couple disappearing under the sheets together. On the top bunk of Thymiane and Erika’s (Edith Meinhard) bunk-beds, Thymiane shows Erika her diary when the director’s wife springs into the room. She tries to grab the diary while the other women blow out their candles. The women keep it away from her, throwing it from bed to bed while she chases after it. Eventually, she’s caught between two bunks and the women pile on top of her, grabbing her arms and legs. Erika rips the key chain from her waist and tosses it to Thymiane and the two of them run out the back door. The director comes in and the women pile on him as well, one taking the gong and keeping time as the others punch them in unison.
Outside, Thymiane and Erika find Osdorff waiting and the three run down the street, stopping at a crossroads in the city. Erika knows of a bar where they can stay and she and Osdorff walk to it while Thymiane agrees to meet them later after recovering her baby. She goes to the midwife in time to see it being carried away in a coffin.
At the bar, the proprietor (Emmy Wyda) sits with several young women while others dance with men and one of them with another woman to the sound of a record player. Thymiane enters and Erika introduces her to the proprietor, who takes her aside and fits her into a revealing evening dress. The dancing continues, with Thymiane joining in and dancing with a strange man (Hans Casparius). After a while, the dancers begin to separate and Thymiane and the man find their way into a bedroom. She wakes up the next morning with an envelope of money.
Three years pass. At another bar, the women from the brothel, Thymiane included, are having a party, playing a lottery writing their names on slips of paper and selling them randomly to people to see who gets paired with who. Thymiane is happy until she sees Robert, Meta, and Meinert at a table together. Her father sees her and she tries to go to them, but the crowd gets in her way and Meta hurries Robert off. She sits down silently next to Dr. Vitalis (Kurt Gerron), who tends to the prostitutes at the brothel. “You really are lost now...” he says, “just as we all are,” he adds, looking away and beginning to cry.
Thymiane receives a letter from Robert’s lawyer. He had taken ill and died and his will stipulated that she inherit his estate, the house and pharmacy which were mortgaged to Meinert. Meinert had paid the remainder of his debt so now owned both outright and Thymiane’s inheritance was the enormous sum of 45,000 Marks in cash. Thymiane and Osdorff marry, planning to start a new life together. She goes to collect it and sees Meta and her two small children being hurried away in a dog cart, penniless. She gives her little half-sister all her money.
When Osdorff learns that they’re no longer rich, the magnitude of his failure in life dawns on him and he throws himself to his death out a window. At his funeral, his uncle speeks to Thymiane. He blames himself for Osdorff’s death and wants to make amends with him through his wife, taking Thymiane in.
Through Osdorff’s uncle, the now-Countess Thymiane meets the backers of the reformatory where she was kept and is invited to join their board, which she reluctantly does. At the first meeting, a runaway is brought in and the director and one of the backers berate her for her wicked ways. Thymiane is silent and looks away, wringing her handkerchief in her hands. At last, she bolts up and screams at them to stop it, telling them she knows all about the “blessings” the reformatory has to offer and that, while their ignorance surely won’t help the girl, she would try. She leads the girl outside under her arm. Osdorff’s uncle, who has been sitting quietly off to the side observing, stands up and slowly walks to the door. Before leaving, he turns and addresses the backers: “With a little more love, no one would be lost.”
Also known as
Cast and crew
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Amazon.co.uk: Not Available |
FranziVision: Not Available |
[ Gay feature | Lesbian feature | Trans feature | Queer feature ]
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