Furtwangler's Love

Furtwängler's Love is a film essay on Wilhelm Furtwängler, the great conductor; on Furtwängler, the dedicated composer and on Furtwängler, the loving partner. It is also a search for the aesthetic phenomenon and a perspective on the constant struggle of the conductor versus the composer. His widow, Elisabeth Furtwängler, tells in a private atmosphere a lot of intimate, entertaining but also thought-provoking details of their joint live: from their first date to their last kiss. Jan Schmidt-Garre portrays the love-story of two people, and by pure chance one of them belongs to the greatest conductors of our century."... Amongst all the films in the highly prestigious competition, Furtwängler's Love was clearly the most personal - not just because it is narrated from a subjective perspective but also because it offers unique access to Furtwängler's personality undistorted by "objective" archive material. We were particularly impressed by the fact that from the very outset the film disregards the usual documentary chronology and desire for completeness. Furtwängler's Love takes it's time and develops it's dramaturgy in close-up, drawing on the unique atmosphere generated by human contact. That is what creates it's particular rhythm and makes it so moving. It is a very, very beautiful film and - quite apart from any award -