Ideal and Idealized Victims: The Lost Honor of the Marquise von O., Effi Briest and Katharina Blum in Prose and Film

Abstract

Martha Wallach Ideal and Idealized Victims: The Lost Honor of the Marquise von 0., Effi Briest and Katharina Blum in Prose and Film Kleist's "The Marquise von 0." was published in 1808, Fontane's Effi Briest in 1894 and Boll's The Lost Honor of Katharina Blüm in 1974. And yet, these three prose works, each separated from the other by about three quarters of a century, each featuring a central character who is both victim and female, attracted the attention of some of the foremost moviemakers of Europe in the seventies: Eric Rohmer, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta and Volker Schlöndorff. The three films derived from these works have met with popular success as well as critical acclaim.1 Victimization is the common element in all three which I would like to discuss. To what extent is there an exploitation of the victim as victim, a romanticization of her plight, and to what extent is there criticism, an invitation to the audience to analyze, to disapprove and to see alternatives?^ A brief discussion of the main characters of the stories and the films based on them will precede a detailed analysis of the heroine as victim in The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum. The final section of this paper will compare the portrayal of all three heroines. "The Marquise von 0." was written shortly before Kleist's death and its heroine is a very Kleistian character, the victim of mistaken identities, mysterious happenings, misunderstanding, unjust accusations and the general "frail construction" of the world. She is an innocent victim. To use an image from the story: she is like the swan of the count's childhood garden; although pelted with mud, she needs only to dive to come up white again. First shown to us moved by gratitude toward the dashing Russian officer who saved her from rape by his men, she has no inkling that he himself is guilty of the crime. Although an adult with two children, she is completely subservient to her parents and brother and allows her family to speak for her when her savior-rapist returns with a marriage proposal. In heart-rending fashion 61 she pleads her innocence when they are outraged at her claim that her pregnancy is a mystery to her. When she is condemned by her parents, she asserts her independence, however, by refusing to allow the family to take her children from her, establishing her own household and disregarding convention with her advertisement asking the child's father to step forward . When the Russian officer admits the deed, she treats him as Satan incarnate and continues to reject him despite a pro-forma marriage. He has to wait a year to be forgiven and although she finally relents and bears him many children, she has taken a stand -at least for a while. The marriage restores her reputation , and Julietta, after her trials and tribulations is again as white as the swan after the dive. Eric Rohmer's film The Marquise von 0. is quite faithful to Kleist's script. Little has been added as far as the text is concerned; but there are some omissions and some changes of emphasis. Interiors and costumes are historically accurate and sparse, colors are muted, there is a lot of white and light green and the whole is often enveloped by a haze. Many scenes suggest copper engravings of the period. In keeping with this understatement the threat of impending rape to which the Marquise is subjected is also played down. Her "Zetergeschrei," as Kleist calls it, is barely audible. Her savior from this humiliation is introduced as a very forceful guardian angel who literally leaps into the picture by scaling a wall and leads the overwrought Marquise to the safety and privacy of another part of the castle. The text barely hints at what happens next: "Hier - traf er, da bald darauf ihre erschrockenen Frauen erschienen , Anstalten einen Arzt zu rufen; versicherte, indem er sich den Hut aufsetzte,dass sie sich bald erholen würde; und kehrte in den Kampf zurück."1+ There is only a dash and the fact that he had removed his hat...