Anders als die Andern: The Preservation of Loss

Neha Shaji, University of Exeter

Austrian director Richard Oswald and German鈥揓ewish sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld鈥檚 collaboration Anders als die Andern remains, both technically and narratively, a preservation of loss. Premiering on May 24 1919, the film garnered negative attention due to its openness and acceptance of male homosexuality. It was banned a year later in 1920 by the Weimar Republic鈥檚 censor and prints of the film were amongst works burned by the Nazis when Hitler came to power. Hirschfeld and other contemporary directors later subjected the film to revisions and reconstruction.  The copy I am using for this review is the Goethe-Institut鈥檚 Stefan Dr枚脽ler restoration, which uses archival footage of Hirschfeld鈥檚 lectures, intertitles, and censorship documents in an attempt to reconstruct the film鈥檚 complicated flashback structure. Anders als die Andern was one of Oswald鈥檚 specialties - the 础耻蹿办濒盲谤耻苍驳蝉蹿颈濒尘别 (鈥榚nlightenment films鈥�) - which depicted 鈥榮ocietal ills鈥� in order to better understand them. Other topics covered include prostitution, abortion and venereal diseases. The film was also regarded as part of Hirschfeld鈥檚 campaigns against Paragraph 175 of the German Constitution that had criminalised male homosexuality in Germany since 1871. Hirschfeld, expecting the film to be banned, preserved a written outline of Anders als die Andern in one of his yearbooks, from which the reconstructions were crafted. 

Anders als die Andern follows  violinist Paul K枚rner (played by Conrad Veidt, later of Caligari and Casabalancafame) and his burgeoning love affair with his student Kurt Sivers (Fritz Schulz). However, their illicit happiness is marred by the blackmailer Franz Bollek (Reinhold Sch眉nzel) who requires 1000 Marks for his silence on K枚rner鈥檚 homosexuality. Bollek鈥檚 demands increase until K枚rner takes his own life through an overdose of barbiturates. As K枚rner comes to terms with Bollek鈥檚 extortion, the film jaggedly transitions between his memories, which include a Hirschfeld lecture and a visit to a hypnotist in an attempt to 鈥榗ure鈥� himself of his homosexuality. His memories oscillate between misery and joy. For a film often referred to as the 鈥榝irst gay film鈥� and thus carrying the consequent historical responsibility on its shoulders, Anders als die Andern鈥檚 narrative is comparatively straightforward. It is bookended by holes, beginning and ending with the tragedy of queer suicide: the unnamed man in the newspaper headline, and then K枚rner himself. The largest loss, however, is situated in the middle of the film 鈥� the loss of Hirschfeld's presence and lecture, which reconstructors attempted to fill with title cards, scientific documents and archival footage. This discordance in the reconstruction serves as a  marker indicating that something there too was lost. As such, the film is less of an ode to loss but rather a reminder of what was taken away, and what was subsequently recreated. 

Whilst Veidt was not necessarily a household name by the time he starred in Anders als die Andern, a retrospective reading of the film casts him alongside the other heroes he played: vampiric, somewhat exotic, and androgynous. For those familiar with Hirschfeld鈥檚 work, this is unsurprising - K枚rner cuts neither a masculine nor feminine figure but a supernatural, tragic one. He later went on to star in the horror Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, one of Weimar Germany鈥檚 most famous films, where his character, Cesare, is incited to murder by the eponymous figure. Physically, there was nothing that set K枚rner out to be Anders als die Andern- he trod the in-between without resorting to crude stereotype or medical caricature, but a contemporary post mortem of the film connects him to his famous portrayals of death, loss, and tragedy. It is this tragedy that Veidt portrays spectacularly throughout the narrative, illustrating the progressive potential of loss, but also the preservation of an act of 厂别濒产蝉迟尘枚谤诲别谤 (self-murder) and the reasons it happened. The lost ending of the film uses K枚rner鈥檚 suicide as a catalyst to outline that potential, and the advice given to Sivers is also applicable to the audience 鈥� don鈥檛 let this happen again.

But it would. Here, Oswald鈥檚 theatrical techniques hit the hardest: the majority of scenes in Anders als die Andern are shot perpendicular to the actors鈥� faces, often intercutting with close-ups from the same angle. Each time K枚rner is exposed to the letter, Bollek, or negative reactions to his sexuality, the camera first frames Veidt鈥檚 face and expression tightly from the front. It then switches to the 脰蹿蹿别苍迟濒颈肠丑办别颈迟, the public sphere that Hirschfeld was attempting to influence in his campaign for gay rights. The shifting between the personal and the public was typical of the 础耻蹿办濒盲谤耻苍驳蝉蹿颈濒尘, insisting through both narrative and camerawork that K枚rner was one of many, quite literally part of a parade. This parade, whilst certainly steeped in respectability politics and early twentieth century figurations of 鈥榯he noble queer鈥�, also serves as a temporal link to the public sphere. It disconnects queerness from modernity and links it to tradition and nobility 鈥� a uniform representation of queer figures in positions of pride. Respectability politics aside, this method of normalising queer sexuality was both typical of Hirschfeld whilst also being a rare occurrence in cinema of the time. Indeed, as K枚rner spends half the narrative driven to a metaphorical corner: a parade of 鈥渞espectable鈥� queer figures offsets and counters the loss of dignity in K枚rner鈥檚 present. Additionally, Oswald鈥檚 simultaneous centering and contextualising of K枚rner makes the film鈥檚 ending a successful Verfremdungseffekt (the result of alienating an action from the audience theough artificiality). With Oswald鈥檚 constant intercutting between Veidt鈥檚 anguished expressions and the wider spaces (including gay spaces) that he inhabits, K枚rner鈥檚 suicide is no longer an individual tragedy to which an audience is passive. It becomes a deliberate act of self-murder, impacting and impacted by the general public and their attitudes.

This is where the loss of Hirschfeld鈥檚 uncut lecture is felt most keenly, as it serves as another link between the public and private narratives. The lecture was filmed with a wide angle shot, with Hirschfeld either side-on or facing the on-screen audience, once again linking the impacting and impacted by. But the film is not without queer joy, which is tremendous for a narrative so consumed by loss. K枚rner and Kurt are happy in their relationship, and the tragedy was caused by those around them instead of themselves. The reconstructions and restorations of the film manages to keep that momentary joy, even as they showcased loss. Whilst it is near impossible to give a reading of Anders als die Andern as it was first shown, even with Hirschfeld鈥檚 copious notes on the film, its atemporality endures even through numerous dustings of fingerprint powder. 

Works Consulted 

Linge, Ina, 鈥楽exology, Popular Science and Queer History in Anders als die Andern鈥�, Gender and History, 30.3 (2018), 595-610

Weber, Matthias, and Wolfgang Burgmair, '鈥滱nders Als Die Andern鈥� Kraepelins Gutachten 脺ber Hirschfelds 础耻蹿办濒盲谤耻苍驳蝉蹿颈濒尘: Ein Beitrag Zur Psychiatriegeschichte Der Weimarer Republik', Sudhoffs Archiv, 81.1 (1997), 1-20