Your
guide in English to films showing in Germany.
Opening 3 Apr 2025
Directed by:
Angela Christlieb
Writing credits:
Angela Christlieb
Prior to this film, I had no previous knowledge of the Austrian filmmaker G.W. Pabst and his role in German films, and in the overall film industry. By watching Pandoras Vermächtnis, I saw the version of him seen through his three grandchildren and told through narrated letters from his wife, Trude.
Pandoras Vermächtnis shows that there is a very detailed catalogue of surviving pictures and correspondence from the Pabst family detailing their history. The film is narrated from letters and journal entries of his wife Trude, and also from the memories of the film producer's grandchildren Daniel Pabst, Marion Jaros, and Ben Pabst, and family member Heidi Pabst. While the story is a bit winding, jumping from time windows between past to present and from person to person, it was nice to see through the window of G.W. Pabst’s adult grandchildren's lives and how their history has shaped them.
It was not always clear who was who in the cast of the Pabst family, but the videography and still shots of nature were very stunning and had a mysterious quality about them. Perhaps it was an ode to the silent film era or telling stories through many senses. The grandchildren are shown at their jobs or in their homes, going about their daily lives; they share the trials and the oddities of their ancestors. G.W. Pabst, from what we learn, was not an endearing man. He was jealous of his wife's attention to their children, and he was very controlling of her. He would not let her enter the acting world that he was a part of. What we do learn from the often-haunting scenes shown from the silent or black and white films produced by Pabst, was that he portrayed themes that were challenging. He also challenged the norm during WWII when he did make two films under the auspices of Joseph Goebbels, but refused to make them strictly propaganda movies. (Shanan Rickert)
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