When one is a Germanist, one most often sees pictures of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that look like the above image, an oil painting by Josef Stieler in the 1820s, when Goethe was in his 70s. In an effort to make Goethe (and German) cool again, the Goethe Institut made use of this image by Andy Warhol in the 1980s and 1990s, when I was first learning German:
But now Goethe has a whole new face. This movie is a fictionalized version of the love story that supposedly served as the inspiration for Goethe's break-through classic, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther). In the film, the young Goethe falls in love with Charlotte, who is soon engaged to a boring but respectable man, who is wealthy and kind enough to take care of her father and many siblings. What is a girl to do, especially when facing the choice between impoverishment/sex and financial stability/learning-to-love-her-frumpy-husband? I've always enjoyed that Lotte chooses the frumpy husband. In Goethe's novel, it makes Werther seem all the more juvenile, overly sensitive, and romantic. The movie is kinder to Goethe than Goethe is to Werther; Lotte is able to love Goethe for who he is and her husband for who he is. Her decision is pragmatic without being unemotional.
But back to point: in this movie, Goethe is hunk and a celebrity. In the film's final scene, he is mobbed by a crowd of enthusiastic readers of his novel (just imagine!) and has to climb to the top of his carriage to sign autographs. What a shot! Goethe is a rock star!
(You can click on the links throughout this post for more information about the film and the book.)
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