Liebeskonzil - 1982

Oskar Panizza’s The Council of Love (1895) is a blasphemous play set in 1495, during the first recorded outbreak of syphilis, which Panizza satirically presents as the punishment from Satan for sexually active humans. As a result, Panizza was imprisoned for obscenity. Schroeter alternates scenes from the Panizza’s work with a dramatization of his trial, presenting the play as an expressionist spectacle performed by actors wearing exaggerated makeup who gesture and grimace grotesquely. The film thus forms a bridge between Schroeter’s use of tableaux in his early experiments with the political urgency of his 1980s films. On the eve of the AIDS crisis, Schroeter is presciently worried about disease as an excuse for governmental repression and the oppression of sexuality. - Harvard Film Archive

92min
1982
Released
Trakio rating0.0/10
IMDB rating6.7/10

Cast

Antonio Salines profile pictureAntonio SalinesTeufel / Dr. Panizza
Kurt Raab profile pictureKurt RaabGerichtspräsident
Renzo Rinaldi profile pictureRenzo RinaldiGottvater
Margit Carstensen profile pictureMargit CarstensenStaatsanwältin
Heinrich Giskes profile pictureHeinrich GiskesVerteidiger
Patrizia La Fonte profile picturePatrizia La FonteSelbstmörder-Engel

About Liebeskonzil

Liebeskonzil Overview

Oskar Panizza’s The Council of Love (1895) is a blasphemous play set in 1495, during the first recorded outbreak of syphilis, which Panizza satirically presents as the punishment from Satan for sexually active humans. As a result, Panizza was imprisoned for obscenity. Schroeter alternates scenes from the Panizza’s work with a dramatization of his trial, presenting the play as an expressionist spectacle performed by actors wearing exaggerated makeup who gesture and grimace grotesquely. The film thus forms a bridge between Schroeter’s use of tableaux in his early experiments with the political urgency of his 1980s films. On the eve of the AIDS crisis, Schroeter is presciently worried about disease as an excuse for governmental repression and the oppression of sexuality. - Harvard Film Archive

Runtime: 92min

Extra details

Original Title: Liebeskonzil
Original Language: German
Directed By: Werner Schroeter