Diary of a Lost Girl: Anyone interested in a film Study?

I watched this film awhile back and frankly became confused mostly
because I did not know who was who. Character names are not mentioned
in the opening intertitle cards. Because of this, I didn't really
appreciate this film on my first viewing.
Recently, I began a careful review of this story, attempting to sort
out whose who and determine exactly what the film is about. I'm only
30 minutes into this nearly two hour film and have discovered that this
is really a masterpiece, in many ways equal to so many other German
classics. I'm making detailed notes that I plan to use in a review.
If you have an understanding of this film, or would like to
understand better this Pabst's film, let me know if you'd like to
discuss the details. I expect to complete the film in the next ten
days.


Rich Wagner

bigsilentfan RemoveThis @aol.com wrote:
> I watched this film awhile back and frankly became confused mostly
> because I did not know who was who. Character names are not mentioned
> in the opening intertitle cards. Because of this, I didn't really
> appreciate this film on my first viewing.
> Recently, I began a careful review of this story, attempting to sort
> out whose who and determine exactly what the film is about. I'm only
> 30 minutes into this nearly two hour film and have discovered that this
> is really a masterpiece, in many ways equal to so many other German
> classics. I'm making detailed notes that I plan to use in a review.

I recently saw this too, and I only found one relationship confusing --
the older woman in the pharmacist's household. It's easy to take her
for being the pharmacist's wife, but then he marries someone else while
she's still about. The imdb gives her character as "Aunt Frieda," so
she could either be the pharmacist's sister, or the sister of the
(presumably dead) pharmacists wife (the mother of Thymian). Of course,
the imdb also spells Thymian (on the Kino video) as Thymiane, and gives
the woman in the institution the name "the director's wife" when she's
only called "Margaret" in the Kino version of the film. The imbd may,
of course, be using titles from a different translation, the script, or
from the original novel.

But I also think that the titles might be incorrectly translated. It
looked to me as though three characters are named Erika -- Thymian's
baby daughter (when she asks for her after her escape), Thymian's
friend at the workhouse, and the bordello madam. I'd have to watch it
again to make sure, and it may just be unclear titles.

Of course, the film is based on a novel, and finding the novel would
presumably clear everything up. I'm curious whether the German
intertitles are as confusing. I think that translaters have to not only
think "is this a close translation of the original," but also "does the
storyline of the film make sense with these titles?" There are some
foreign films that could use not only a translator but also someone
with some script-writing talent.

Rodney Sauer
Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
www.mont-alto.com