German Film Series, Fall 2008 - Sexual Revolutions in German Cinema

The Legend of Paul and Paula (Heiner Carow, 1973)

Director Heiner Carow adapted Ulrich Plenzdorf's tragicomic love story to make what has become one of the best-known East German films. After leaving her husband, Paula, a now single mother, falls in love with Paul, a committed bureaucrat and married career man altogether dissatisfied with his stagnant life. He and Paula get involved in a passionate affair, but Paul turns out to be much too uptight and conservative for Paula who soon gets fed up with him. When a tragedy makes him aware of what Paula means to him, he gives all he's got to win her back.