Compelling viewing for the delicate way it unfolds and leaves a tingling feeling there's a lot more going on than it seems.
Effi Briest (1974)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted: 8
Fresh: 6
Rotten:2
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 20 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: Hanna Schygulla stars in this bleak Fassbinder drama as Effi Briest, a tomboyish seventeen-year-old German girl living with her parents. Though simple, Effi still has some social ambition, ambition... Hanna Schygulla stars in this bleak Fassbinder drama as Effi Briest, a tomboyish seventeen-year-old German girl living with her parents. Though simple, Effi still has some social ambition, ambition that causes her to accept a proposal of marriage from Baron Geert Von Instetten, a Prussian diplomat who is much older than Effi. Unfortunately, neither the Baron's family nor anyone in the secluded town she now calls home accept Effi as an equal. Starved for companionship and finding none from her busy husband, Effi begins an innocent friendship with a well-known womanizer that may jeopardize even her tenuous position as the Baron's wife. [More]
Starring: Hanna Schygulla, Wolfgang Schenck, Ulli Lommel
Starring: Hanna Schygulla, Wolfgang Schenck, Ulli Lommel
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Get This Movie
Reviews for Effi Briest
In spite of achieved small-budget period flavor, the film is ponderously top-heavy in its setting up and complication.
It's visually beguiling -- its cameramen having found shades of gray between black and white I'm not sure I've seen before -- and it is performed by the Fassbinder stock company with the precision and style one seldom finds outside the legitimate theater.
The film demonstrates not only Fassbinder’s usual superb technical control and ability to elicit superbly nuanced performances from his actors, but also an unprecedented affinity for literary adaptation and historical sensitivity.
It's Fassbinder's arm's-length direction that makes Effi Briest come off as cold and detached instead of calculating and sad.
The slow, deliberate pace is sometimes taxing, but this story of a 16-year-old girl locked in the boredom of a loveless marriage is perfectly suited to Fassbinder's stifling mise-en-scene.
Related Forums for Effi Briest
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
79% 79% |
Gran Torino |
30% 30% |
12 Rounds |
23% 23% |
Confessions of a Shopa… |
|
The Code |
39% 39% |
Inkheart |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
22% 22% |
Push |
12% 12% |
The Unborn |
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- Effi Briest at Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh Links
Featured

MSN's David Fear and Frank Paiva go head to head discussing the pros and cons of Bruno star Sacha Baron Cohen.

The AV Club's Scott Tobias takes a second look at David Lynch's cult classic, Lost Highway.

TIME takes us on a 25-year long journey into the superstar's career, giving us a look at his 10 best roles.

BuzzSugar reports on Paramount's plans to rebirth the iconic TV show as a comedy film.



Top Critic


