Undressing Injustice: G.W. Pabst鈥檚 Die Freudlose Gasse
Helen Atkinson, Canterbury Christ Church University
漏滨惭顿叠
It is a pan-European cast and crew who gather at Berlin鈥檚 Zoo Studios in February 1925 to make Die Freudlose Gasse. G.W. Pabst, is already well-known in the theatre community but is beginning to establish himself in the growing medium of film. He has a successful career ahead, though he will not become as famous as one of Die Freudlose Gasse鈥檚 stars. Nineteen-year-old Swede, Greta Garbo, has recently arrived in Berlin, fresh from the success of her first film, G枚sta Berlings Saga, to play the role of dutiful daughter Greta Rumfort. Just a few months later, she and her Swedish co-star, Einar Hanson, will sail to Hollywood and sign a contract with Louis B. Meyer. In contrast to their inexperience, Pabst鈥檚 film is also packed with veteran Weimar talent: Werner Krauss delights in the role of the moustache-twirling butcher who trades meat for sexual favours; dancer and actor, Valeska Gert, has a scene-stealing role as the plasticine-faced owner of a dress shop-cum-brothel. Even the role of Greta鈥檚 younger sister, Marianne, is played by child star Loni Nest who, at nine years old, is clocking up her thirty-sixth appearance in Weimar film. And the woman whose international fame is selling the film is 43-year-old diva Asta Nielsen.
With this combination of talent, we might expect Die Freudlose Gasse to be better known. The film鈥檚 scathing social criticism juxtaposes the Babylonian excesses of the upper-middle classes with the poverty faced by the residents of Melchoirgasse, the 鈥渏oyless street鈥� of the title. Pabst鈥檚 parallel editing shows us the high life of the Hotel Carlton dancefloor where wives and daughters of wealthy men foxtrot their way between flirtations, then throws us into sleazy Hotel Merkl, where assignations lead to murder and women are forced to sell themselves in order to survive. Die Freudlose Gasse is social commentary disguised as murder mystery. Pabst uses mirrors and windows to reflect society back to his audience but, like a detective, we must put the pieces together to see the full picture. We may be titillated by the promise of extra-marital encounters but are forced to confront the economic inequality that underpins them. By the time that the bodies in the tableaux vivants have shed their clothes, we are aware that these women have also shed their hopes of employment, relationships, economic stability and state support. We think that we are watching a whodunnit, but gradually it becomes apparent that it is not 鈥榳ho鈥� that is important but 鈥榳hy.鈥�
Women鈥檚 lives are at the centre of the story. Greta and Marie live in the same building and both have to look after themselves when men are unable to do so. Marie鈥檚 father is one of the many left disabled, disgruntled and dependent by the war, whilst her fianc茅e is bewitched by dollar signs. Similarly, Greta鈥檚 father (Jaro Furth) is a diligent civil servant whose services are no longer required. He lacks the skills to survive in the modern city. Both women are forced to confront the reality that they are economically powerless 鈥� with nothing to sell except themselves. Yet, these women are not just passive victims of a corrupt and unequal society. Greta and Marie may take different paths down the street, but they are both fighters, prepared to act in defence of themselves and those they love. Even homeless Else (Hertha von Walther), the lowest on the post-war economic food chain, is dignified by her small acts of kindness, her devotion to her family and her refusal to give up hope. It鈥檚 no coincidence that her baby comes to symbolise the spirit of Melchiorgasse. Nor that the only upper middle-class character who learns anything in the film is a young woman. At the start of the film, Regina Rosenow (Agnes Esterhazy) is a spoilt rich girl, whose thoughtless actions begin a chain of events leading to murder. By the end, she鈥檚 shaken off the influence of her businessman father and, alongside Greta, Marie and Else, she gains our respect. Pabst鈥檚 skill is in interweaving the journeys of the four women. They make mistakes, their judgement is often poor, and at times they are naive. We know that they won鈥檛 all have happy endings but we care about them because they care about others.
The film is also beautiful to watch. With the experienced hand of cinematographer Guido Seeber behind the camera, Garbo鈥檚 face glows in an incandescent light. Her mentor, Finnish director Mauritz Stiller, insisted that she was shot on expensive Kodak film, rather than the Agfa that was commonly used in Berlin. This, alongside the use of slow motion, supposedly to disguise Garbo鈥檚 visible nerves, creates a soft vulnerability to her beauty - the same technique would be used in her early Hollywood pictures. But perhaps the most striking visual image in the film is of Nielsen, as 鈥榝allen woman鈥� Marie. She looks directly out at the camera through unblinking eyes, forcing the viewer to look beyond the outlandish finery that represents the Babylonian excesses of the city, and to focus on her face, frozen in despair.
Die Freudlose Gasse takes us behind the window dressing of the new Babylon, where decadence is the dance partner of despair, and there鈥檚 always a price to be paid. Although it is a 鈥榮treet film鈥� what鈥檚 important are the lives of those that live, work, love and break their hearts on those streets. The setting may be 鈥榡oyless鈥� but the women that inhabit them are forces to be reckoned with - and a sheer joy to watch.
Works Consulted
Der Andere Blick [The Other Eye], dir by Hannah Heer and Werner Schmiedel (Thalia Film, 1991) [DVD]
H.D., 鈥樷�淎n Appreciation鈥� [1929]鈥�, in Close Up: Cinema and Modernism 1927 - 1933, ed. by James Donald et al., (London: Cassell, 1998), pp.139 鈥� 149
Hall, Sarah F., 鈥業nflation and Devaluation: Gender, Space, and Economics in G.W. Pabst鈥檚 The Joyless Street (1925)鈥�, in Weimar Cinema: An Essential Guide to Classic Films of the Era, ed. by Noah Isenberg (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), pp. 135 鈥� 154
Horak, Jan-Christopher, 鈥楻econstructing the text of The Joyless Street (1925)鈥�, Screening the Past, (1998), < > [accessed 1 February 2021]
Pabst Wieder Sehen [Reviewing Pabst], dir. by Wolfgang Jacobsen and Martin Koerber (Ekion Media GMBH, 1997) [DVD]