Film Still

Coup de grâce

Volker Schlöndorff

Germany

1976

98 minutes

Black and White

1.66:1

French, German

192

Synopsis

Latvia, 1919: the end of the Russian Civil War. An aristocratic young woman (brilliantly played by Margarethe von Trotta) becomes involved with a sexually repressed Prussian soldier. When she is rejected by her love, the young woman is sent into a downward spiral of psychosexual depression, promiscuity, and revolutionary collaboration. A startling tale of heartbreak and violence set against the backdrop of bloody revolution, Volker Schlöndorff’s Coup de grâce is a powerful film that explores the interrelation of private passion and political commitment.

Cast

Sophie von RevalMargarethe von Trotta
Erich von LhomondMatthias Habich
Volkmar von PlessenMathieu Carriere
Konrad von Reval Rüdiger Kirschstein
Aunt PraskoviaValeska Gert
Dr. Paul RugenMarc Eyraud
Franz von AlandFrederik von Zichy

Credits

DirectorVolker Schlöndorff
Executive producerEberhard Junkersdorf
CinematographyIgor Luther
EditingJane Sperr
MusicStanley Myers
SoundGerhard Birkholz
Production DesignJurgen Kiebach
ScreenplayJutta Bruckner, Genevieve Dorman and Margarethe von Trotta
From the novel byMarguerite Yourcenar

Disc Features

  • New digital transfer, enhanced for widescreen televisions
  • Video interview with director Volker Schlöndorff and screenwriter/star Margarethe von Trotta
  • New and improved English subtitle translation

From the Current

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, VOLKER!

Mar 30, 2009

Here’s a quick birthday shout-out to Academy Award–winning, New German Cinema trailblazing Volker Schlöndorff, who turns seventy today. The tireless Schlöndorff is reportedly celebrating in (his) style: he’s currently on a reading tour through Germany, promoting his new autobiography, Light...

Coup de grâce

by Hans-Bernhard Moeller and George Lellis May 26, 2003

Excerpted from Hans-Bernhard Moeller and George Lellis’ Volker Schlöndorff’s Cinema: Adaptation, Politics, and the “Movie-Appropriate.Despite its modest claims, Volker Schlöndorff’s twelfth film, Coup de

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