There is probably no darker chapter in German cinema history than the film "Jud Süß", an evil propaganda work commissioned by Joseph Goebbels for "Volksaufklärung", which he described in his diary as "the first truly anti-Semitic film". Before the film was banned, over 20 million people saw it across Europe. Now the making of the film and the story of its lead actor, Ferdinand Marians, is the focus of Oskar Roehler's latest work, "Jud Süß - Film ohne Gewissen".
In the drama, based on true events but expanded to include some fictional points and characters, Tobias Moretti plays actor Ferdinand Marian, who is personally offered the lead role by Joseph Goebbels (Moritz Bleibtreu) in his Nazi propaganda work "Jud Süß". Marian knows that the film could propel him to the top of his career. But from a moral point of view, the project is repugnant to him. Marian's wife Anna (Martina Gedeck) also advises her husband to turn down the role, but more and more Goebbels puts pressure on the actor, so that soon he has no other option but to take on the difficult task. But any attempt to make the main character seem sympathetic is nipped in the bud. And soon after the film's premiere, Marian realizes the effect the flick is having on audiences - an effect that threatens to break him...
The story of "Jud Süß - Film Without Conscience" is thrilling, stirring, interesting, and tremendously important. There's no question about that. But unfortunately Roehler's production can't really live up to the high standards. Some aspects are more than successful, others just don't want to fit into the overall picture and leave a rather bitter aftertaste.
It's not so much the narrative liberties Roehler has taken to tell his story that are disturbing. Certainly, the story of Ferdinand Marian is gripping in itself and, above all, meaningful enough that it really needed fictional elements (which include, for example, the figure of the treacherous maid Britta, but also Anna's Jewish origins). But rather it is the too strong discrepancy between the rather restrained powerful play of Tobias Moretti and the committed, but unfortunately much too exaggerated performance of Moritz Bleibtreu. It seems a bit like one is playing in a drama, the other in a comedic satire. Because of this Bleibtreu, unlike Moretti, doesn't really manage to disappear behind his character. He always remains Moritz Bleibtreu, who plays Joseph Goebbels. And as a result, his performance loses an enormous amount of conviction.
"Jud Süß - Film ohne Gewissen" is undoubtedly a very ambitious work and all those involved, whether in front of or behind the camera, have obviously gone about their work with great commitment. With a direction that would have been a bit more determined and unambiguous in its tone, the work would have been an absolute must for anyone interested in German film and contemporary history - for school lessons anyway. But in this form it has become merely a well-intentioned but only partially recommendable contribution to an important subject
Ein Artikel von Frankfurt-Tipp
