Dirk Nawrocki

The stage adaptation of Dostoyevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" marked Polish film director Andrzej Wajda's return to the theater. Following the play's premiere in Poland, it was staged at Berlin's Schaubühne theater in 1988, and its success led to a film adaptation. The production closely follows the original text and, with a few exceptions, features the Schaubühne ensemble.

In a small town, everyone has tried to forget what happened shortly after WWII. That is, until a stranger finds a book that Jadup (Kurt Böwe) gave to the young refugee Boel (Katrin Knappe), who resettled in the town over 30 years ago. Painful memories about Boel and the post-war period begin to surface and shake up the whole town. Boel vanished back then and nobody knew why. Word spread about a rape and some tried to blame a Russian soldier. Jadup, the town's respected and popular mayor, remembers, though, how he mistrusted Boel and did not help her through this difficult time; HE didn't even notice THAT Boel loved him. Jadup's confrontation with the past gives him a new, critical view of his current situation and surroundings.

Pauline Oswald is 50 years old and has three daughters with her husband Robert. Now, after almost 30 years of marriage, they are about to divorce. This marks the start of a completely new life for Pauline. Until now, she has only worked as a mother and housewife, while her husband Robert, an academic, brought home the salary. Pauline later meets the cheerful and resolute Wally, who works as a brigade leader in a large laundry. A friendship develops between the two women, and Wally helps Pauline to continue on her path to a self-determined life.

Biggy is 18 years old and getting trained as a salesperson. She lives in a small town. In a greenhouse she meets Wolle, a 20-year-old locksmith. The two get closer and fall in love but their wild life comes to an end when Biggi tells Wolle that she is pregnant. Since Wolle dreams about freedom and adventures, he flees from the responsibility, starts to work in another town and gets involved with another girl. Thereupon, Biggi gets an abortion and starts to study at the university. She also becomes acquainted with another man, but soon breaks up with him. Since Biggi and Wolle are unhappy without each other, they get back together and start anew.

19-year old Benjamin, called Ben, works as a cashier on the fairground und is impressing girls with his youthful self-confidence. After an argument with his uncle, who had caught the boy with a 16-year old girl, Ben leaves his familiar surroundings und ventures into the world beyond the fairground. At Berlin′s Ostbahnhof, he meets the much older cookmaid Hanna, who puts homeless Benjamin up in her flat. Ben finds work as a welder in a factory where he at first has to cope with the prejudice of his sceptical co-workers.

Robert and Jutta see each other every morning on the S-Bahn, although only on trains running in opposite directions, and take a liking to each other. They give each other little signs that increasingly become declarations of love. One day, they each decide to get off at the station in question and walk to the other. However, they miss each other, and as Jutta then changes schools, they lose sight of each other. A coincidence later brings them together again. It is the first great love for both of them, with all its ups and downs. The joys and problems of their everyday lives alternate with scenes from William Shakespeare's drama "Romeo and Juliet", which Jutta is reading at her vocational school.

Vienna, 1813-1819: Beethoven (played by Donatas Banionis) is at the peak of his fame. Orchestras all over the world play his music, but he lives modestly and is dependent upon private patrons. Nagged by his patronizing brothers, spied upon by officials for his republican beliefs and faced by his progressive hearing loss, the composer becomes more and more isolated. Seeman’s poetic film explores the joys, heartbreak and artistic spirit of the great composer as he works on his Ninth Symphony.