The Queer Pioneers of the Weimar Republic: Victor and Victoria, Michael, and Mädchen in Uniform

On a normal year, June would be buzzing with Pride month activities from drink specials to museum exhibits, private sober reflection to wild public celebration. Instead we find ourselves at a bizarrely familiar crossroads in a decade that in many ways seems to echo its century-old namesake. For example, in the 1920s Germany experienced a tenuous economic boom built upon loans and inflation that quickly proved unsustainable. By the beginning of the 1930s, unemployment would reach up to 30% and the Nazi party was quickly snapping up power where they could get it. (Hmmm, I’m getting a weird feeling of deja vu… oh, just me? Okay. Never mind.)

Yet hyperinflation brought with it a fascinating culture boom of experimental art, music, architecture and filmmaking. From expressionist art to cabaret performances, wherever creative culture is flourishing you can bet queer culture is right there with it, most likely doing all of the heavy lifting. In another parallel, and ironically due to a fairly hands-off policing policy, this period of German history was markedly tolerant towards homosexuality. While it was and had been technically illegal, there was a set space in society for gay fraternization in public–which in turn lead to some spectacular offerings from a handful of pioneering filmmakers.

Out now on VOD from select local theaters, Kino Lorber has just released three classic queer films from the Weimar era: Michael (1924), Mädchen in Uniform (1931) and Victor and Victoria (1933). All three of these films have been beautifully restored and look shockingly sharp considering they’re pushing 100 years old. I was pleasantly surprised not only by how watchable these films were, but by how refreshingly progressive they felt. Just goes to show that the only thing ‘hazy’ about the past is our own expectations of it.

Michael, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, is a silent film that tells the tale of artist Claude Zoret (Benjamin Christensen) and his muse Michael (Walter Slezak). It’s through painting a portrait based on Michael that Zoret achieves a level of artistic acclaim, causing him to feel he owes his entire life to this younger man. While Michael enjoys his cushy kept life with Zoret, it’s not enough to keep his eye from wandering towards the various women who enter the studio looking to get their portraits painted. The film showcases some impressive acting by Christensen in particular, as the talented but depressive artist who feels trapped by his unrequited love for Michael. While Zoret spends the majority of the film pining away for a man who does not love him back, he is never shown as a pathetic or “evil” person. In fact the opposite is true, he is surrounded by friends who plead with him to move on and find somebody who will love him back–all the while Michael runs amuck, bankrupting himself on frivolity and over indulgence.

Michael doesn’t attempt to ‘moralize’ Zoret’s sexuality as much as it normalizes it by speaking to the human experience of rejection. The film’s overall message lies in the idea that you can’t stop somebody from loving who they love, no matter how toxic of a person. It’s an empathetic look into the life of somebody who feels he doesn’t deserves true happiness, with the true tragedy of Zoret’s experience rooted in an unspoken societal pressure. It’s also an interesting rumination on the relationship of the muse to the artist and the misplaced power dynamics that ensue between the creator and the immortalized. Whether it’s the painted idealization of Michael or the flawed young man himself that Zoret’s actually clinging to is debatable.

Mädchen in Uniform ups both the angst and the overt homosexuality in all of the best ways. Directed by Leontine Sagan, the film revolves around an all-girls boarding school where Manuela (Hertha Thiele) has just been enrolled following the death of her mother. She is greeted warmly by her classmates, who show her the ropes on what is and is not allowed in school, as well as winkingly warn her about Governess Fräulein von Bernburg (Dorothea Wieck)–a beloved teacher whom all of the girls have crushes on. Unlike the strict headmistress, who bans possessions and forces everybody to starve themselves, Bernburg is more empathetic and interested in the inner lives of the girls she teaches. She’s also famous amongst the girls for her ritual of giving each of them a goodnight kiss before bedtime. Manuela quickly falls head over heels for her teacher, which leads to a scandal when she mistakenly gets too vocal about her true feelings.

Mädchen in Uniform is a cult classic for a reason, it’s unabashedly feminine and abundantly queer. Hertha Thiele does an amazing job as Manuela, a highly sensitive girl who is caught between the void that the death of her mother left behind and all of the pains and confusion associated with coming of age. That she’d fall for her teacher isn’t much of a surprise as Fräulein von Bernburg is shot so lovingly, always bathed in a glowing light. She has a smoldering presence that commands the screen with a cinematic weight typically reserved for leading men. I can’t help but think that having a woman director is a big part of why these characters feel so uniquely powerful.

It’s the only film of the three that deals directly with the emotional fallout and crushing weight of homophobia. You can’t help but wince as the hammer of bigotry is brought down full force on Manuela, a sensitive young girl who most likely doesn’t even fully understand her own emotions yet. In one of the film’s most simultaneously devestating and glorious moments, Manuela openly declares her love for her teacher, boasting to the other girls that she is wearing undergarments gifted to her from Fräulein von Bernburg, a clear token of affection. It’s only when she sees the smiling faces of her classmates fade slowly to icy cold silence that this delicate dream of love she shared proudly in what she thought was a safe space is instantly shattered. It’s impossible to come away from this film not feeling a deep sense of empathy for Manuela’s plight; a lesson the film hammers home when Fräulein von Bernburg is forced to publicly stand up to her headmistress in Manuela’s defense.

Lastly we have the original Victor and Victoria, a film that’s been remade a handful of times, most notably with Julie Andrews and James Garner in 1982. I had no idea that the original film was actually a musical comedy–it’s also a total joy. Susanne (Renate Müller) is a failed singer who meets fellow performer Viktor Hempel (Hermann Thimig) after they both fail an audition. They end up talking and Susanne is delighted to find out that Viktor once had a career as a female impersonator. He hatches a scheme for Susanne to pretend herself to be a man impersonating a woman in order to achieve instant success. “How far did you get as a girl?” he asks, “But as a man people will fight for you!” Turns out society is very sexist (who knew!) and he is correct. Susanne suddenly finds herself in great demand performing as one Monsieur Victoria.

Full of fun slapstick, quick editing and silly rhyming songs, Victor and Victoria is genuinely still laugh-out-loud funny and charming to this day. From watching Monsieur Victoria attempt to navigate the gruff world of men, to warding off hoards of male and female admirers, Renate Müller brings a wide-eyed charm to Susanne, who is clearly struggling with the newfound freedoms she gains access to as a ‘man’ and her own desire to retain her feminine dignity. While this is the least queer film of the three considering it amounts to a rather simple straight love story–though it sure takes an interestingly queer route to end up there–it’s more impressive when you realize this managed to get released during Hitler’s first year in power. Most likely because of this fact nobody in the film is explicitly gay, but it does have a lot of fun with both the male and female gaze towards Monsieur Victoria. If you get nothing else from this film, it’s that the ideal man is actually a woman.

Michael, Mädchen in Uniform and Victor and Victoria are available on demand through Kino Lorber and select cinemas staring June 12.