And now for the screencaps. Because Wolfgang Keeling and Götz George have so many expressions, and also there is some really neat detail in there because Stade has read Morgenstern, and if you want to see the Potsdam Oboists, look no further.
Gundling at the start of the movie, when he just lost his job as F1's historian:
Gundling meets FW for the first time
FW without a wig
FW with a wig, later in the Tobacco College
Gundling and the court fool. Remember the costume of the fool, we'll see it again.
Gundling's first return after his first escape attempt. FW has just told him he gets another title, Gundling says "Ihr erhöht mich, um mich zu erniedrigen".
Remember, FW fired the court musicians except for orchestra leader Pepusch, then told him to train some Potsdam Giants to play. This is the result, and they're even playing Händel!
Another neat detail is that FW prays before he eats. They're not named in the movie, unlike in the novel where they are named, but those are Grumbkow and Seckendorff next to him:
FW and Grumbkow, whom Gundling in the novel characterizes as always having his eyes half closed and impossible to read.
Gundling's second escape attempt leads him to Breslau, and the library where his old study buddy works is so beautiful I had to include it:
But it's no use, he gets kidnapped back. BTW, I was wrong. The non fictional biography has arrived, and FW did indeed sent the Old Dessauer himself to retrieve him. Upon his return, FW makes Gundling Master of Ceremonies, an office that hadn't been fulfilled anymore since he fired Besser, and now Gundling has to wear this get up at court functions you'll see below. The first time the audience sees him in it, he meets his future wife, Anne de Larrey , for the first time. This is the moment when he first looks at her and she looks back and he is so sure he knows what she must think:
But Anne is a good observer and watches him being kind to one of the old footmen who had to stand all the time; Gundling uses his Master-of-Ceremonies title to order the old guy to sit down. This is Anne:
Here's a screenshot where you see the full get up as Gundling has to entertain FW and the rest:
Next we get the only scene in the movie where you see Hohenzollerns that are not FW. It's a family walk in the park Gundling gets invited to, featuring FW, pregnant SD, Fritz and Wilhelmine. Since Fritz and Wilhelmine as children keep running to and thro, it's hard to get them in the same shot, so here we go:
Gundling and Anne fall in love:
Which means for the first time since a loooong while, Gundling shows up at the tobacco parliament happy:
Naturally, it can't last. Here he is reading the "Voltaire off to England" news:
He uses that excuse to quote some Voltairian zingers at at guest Rottembourg (the one in white) that apply not just to French monarchies. The Tobacco Parliament is not amused:
Really not amused:
See above for how this ends for Gundling. Next time he is at the Hellfire Club, err, the tobbacco college, it's just him and FW at first. FW tells him he's found a good potential successor for Gundling:
Enter David Fassmann, trying to win FW by insulting Gundling.
Gundling loses it, takes the heating pan and starts to beat at Fassmann.
This is where he hits his final rock bottom. Afterwards, he starts to drink from all the bottles around.
Fassmann holds the FW penned mocking funeral speech:
Surprisingly, he doesn't look happy. It's just a small part, but the actor is good. Check how he conveys with his expression that it dawns on Fassmann just what kind of position it is that he has won:
The oboists play (btw, this is way more dignified than how the actual funeral went):
The barrel-coffin:
And the end (that's Anne and her niece and nephew standing there behind the Giants):
Der König und sein Narr: Screencaps
Gundling at the start of the movie, when he just lost his job as F1's historian:
Gundling meets FW for the first time
FW without a wig
FW with a wig, later in the Tobacco College
Gundling and the court fool. Remember the costume of the fool, we'll see it again.
Gundling's first return after his first escape attempt. FW has just told him he gets another title, Gundling says "Ihr erhöht mich, um mich zu erniedrigen".
Remember, FW fired the court musicians except for orchestra leader Pepusch, then told him to train some Potsdam Giants to play. This is the result, and they're even playing Händel!
Another neat detail is that FW prays before he eats. They're not named in the movie, unlike in the novel where they are named, but those are Grumbkow and Seckendorff next to him:
FW and Grumbkow, whom Gundling in the novel characterizes as always having his eyes half closed and impossible to read.
Gundling's second escape attempt leads him to Breslau, and the library where his old study buddy works is so beautiful I had to include it:
But it's no use, he gets kidnapped back. BTW, I was wrong. The non fictional biography has arrived, and FW did indeed sent the Old Dessauer himself to retrieve him. Upon his return, FW makes Gundling Master of Ceremonies, an office that hadn't been fulfilled anymore since he fired Besser, and now Gundling has to wear this get up at court functions you'll see below. The first time the audience sees him in it, he meets his future wife, Anne de Larrey , for the first time. This is the moment when he first looks at her and she looks back and he is so sure he knows what she must think:
But Anne is a good observer and watches him being kind to one of the old footmen who had to stand all the time; Gundling uses his Master-of-Ceremonies title to order the old guy to sit down. This is Anne:
Here's a screenshot where you see the full get up as Gundling has to entertain FW and the rest:
Next we get the only scene in the movie where you see Hohenzollerns that are not FW. It's a family walk in the park Gundling gets invited to, featuring FW, pregnant SD, Fritz and Wilhelmine. Since Fritz and Wilhelmine as children keep running to and thro, it's hard to get them in the same shot, so here we go:
Gundling and Anne fall in love:
Which means for the first time since a loooong while, Gundling shows up at the tobacco parliament happy:
Naturally, it can't last. Here he is reading the "Voltaire off to England" news:
He uses that excuse to quote some Voltairian zingers at at guest Rottembourg (the one in white) that apply not just to French monarchies. The Tobacco Parliament is not amused:
Really not amused:
See above for how this ends for Gundling. Next time he is at the Hellfire Club, err, the tobbacco college, it's just him and FW at first. FW tells him he's found a good potential successor for Gundling:
Enter David Fassmann, trying to win FW by insulting Gundling.
Gundling loses it, takes the heating pan and starts to beat at Fassmann.
This is where he hits his final rock bottom. Afterwards, he starts to drink from all the bottles around.
Fassmann holds the FW penned mocking funeral speech:
Surprisingly, he doesn't look happy. It's just a small part, but the actor is good. Check how he conveys with his expression that it dawns on Fassmann just what kind of position it is that he has won:
The oboists play (btw, this is way more dignified than how the actual funeral went):
The barrel-coffin:
And the end (that's Anne and her niece and nephew standing there behind the Giants):