The Legend of Paul and Paula (1973)

Two neighbors - Paula, a single woman with two children, and Paul, a conservative bureaucrat stuck in a loveless marriage - begin to fall in love. The free-spirited Paula tries to liberate Paul from his complacent life, but it's not until tragedy and heartaches beset them both that he begins to fully appreciate her love. But is it too late? One of the most popular and controversial of all East German films, The Legend of Paul and Paula is both a romantic and an ironic view of love, with an underlying plea for individual freedom. Featuring the music of the German cult band The Puhdys, it proved so popular that not even government-ordered media blackouts on the film could keep audiences away.