Rent Mädchen in Uniform (1931)

Deserves ten stars! - Mädchen in Uniform review by CP Customer

This disc is a real triumph by the BFI.

'Madchen in Uniform' is one of the key cultural moments in the short period of liberation and creativity that spanned the Weimar Republic years in Germany. The film is both a bold venture into the nuances of Lesbian love, and a robust statement against the evils of authoritarianism.

The entire cast is female and the lively solidarity of the boarding-school girls gives the film an inspiring energy.

The architecture of the school itself is also one of the star turns, especially the soaring angles of the central staircase.

The black-and-white print is high quality, given that the film was made in 1931, and the play of light and shadow enhances the narrative throughout.

The disc contains some excellent extras, all of which reveal fascinating aspects of the film, its genesis and its reception. The BFI have also added four short films that make for hilarious and sobering viewing in terms of attitudes towards women in the mid-20th century.

However, the real star of this brilliant disc is the wonderful main feature itself.

Smelling Salts for the Censors - Mädchen in Uniform review by griggs

Boarding schools in old films are usually misery factories: starch, rules, and a strict ban on having feelings. Mädchen in Uniform takes one look at that and pokes a hole in the rulebook. It’s unapologetically feminine, boldly queer for 1931, and the sort of film that would make a censor reach for smelling salts.

Hertha Thiele is fantastic as Manuela — all raw nerves and grief, trying to grow up while still staring into the hole her mother left behind. When she falls for her teacher, it doesn’t feel like scandal. It feels like gravity.

The film leans into it. Dorothea Wieck’s Fräulein von Bernburg is shot with such tenderness she may as well come with a halo and a soft-focus warning label. She has the smouldering magnetism classic cinema usually reserves for men and calls “charisma.”

Best of all, the film never treats these feelings as a naughty subplot or a moral lesson. Directed by Leontine Sagan, it treats them as human: messy, intense, and inevitable.