Goethe! / Young Goethe in Love
Friday, 19 May, 08.30 PM at MGS

Young Goethe in Love is a 2010 German historical drama film. It is a fictionalized version of the early years of the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the events forming the basis of his novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.

At the University of Strasbourg in 1772, young Johann Wolfgang Goethe falls his doctoral examination in law and, despite wishing to be a poet, is sent by his father to work in the imperial law court in the small town of Wetzlar. Set to read old files by his grim chief Kestner, he is befriended by another junior, Wilhelm Jerusalem, who takes him to a dance.
There he sees Lotte Buff, daughter of a widower living in an old manor house outside the town. Developing a closer friendship with the attractive and lively young woman, one day he encounters her on a country road. A sudden rain storm forces the two to seek shelter in a ruined castle.
Meanwhile Kestner has been negotiating with her father, who is delighted to see his impoverished family helped by the marriage of his eldest girl to a distinguished lawyer. Though not in the least charmed by Kestner, for the sake of the family Lotte reluctantly agrees he may woo her. Unaware of her relationship with Goethe and without mentioning her name, Kestner asks him to be best man. Lotte writes to Goethe to tell him their affair is at an end. Before he gets the letter, he sets out for her house with a present, only to find her engagement party in full swing. After briefly contemplating suicide himself, he returns to work and publicly insults Kestner, who demands a duel. Given first shot he misses, whereupon Kestner fires wide and has him arrested for illegal duelling. Goethe turns these events into a story he calls The Sorrows of Young Werther.

Germany, 2010, Drama / Romance, German with English subtitles, 100 min

Director: Philipp Stölzl

Actors: Alexander Fehling, Miriam Stein, Moritz Bleibtreu