Lenz

Poet and playwright Lenz is a unfortunate stepchild of German classicistic literature. A revolutionary author whose plays in our century were adapted by Brecht, he was considered around 1770, like Goethe, one of the geniuses of German 'Sturm und Drang' ('storm and stress'). As a private tutor and navvy to two young noblemen, Lenz left the Baltic for Strasbourg; there he became acquainted with Goethe and other young men of letters. An enthusiastic friendship developed between Goethe and Lenz, 'the poor hack and the rich student' (Lenz). They felt one of a mind, served one another as critic and idol, and had a very delicate love affair. A few years later, Goethe as a highranking official at the court of Weimar, had Lenz exiled because the man´s personal and political extremism did not seem socially tolerable to him. As a result, Lenz fell mentally ill and finally took on odd jobs in St. Petersburg and Moscow, where he died anonymously in the gutter, aged 41. The film shows in both characters – Lenz as well as Goethe – that tension between extreme vulnerability and extreme daring, varyingly endured. Thus, it is not only historicizing: 'In this historic film, I have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that we shot today. We tried all sorts of things to give the audience the feeling: this film concerns all of us.' (Egon Günther)