Hintertreppe (1921)

Directed by

Paul Leni, Leopold Jessner

Genre

drama film, silent film

Country

Germany

Runtime

50 min

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 18 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A maid lives in a cramped apartment building and waits for her lover who has gone away. A letter writer offers to help her send messages but his motives are not entirely pure. The film shows the quiet desperation of ordinary people trapped in their small world.

somberintimateslow-pacedmelancholicpsychologicalminimalistoppressivestark

What happens

Hintertreppe (English: Backstairs) is a 1921 silent film. This was the first movie by German director Leopold Jessner, in cooperation with Paul Leni. Carl Mayer specifically wrote this for Leopold Jessner, who would go on to direct Erdgeist (1923). Hintertreppe was a precursor of the 1920s German kammerspielfilm style. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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