Sleeping Beauty Spring: "Märchenperlen – Dornröschen" ("Fairy Tale Pearls – Briar Rose") (2008 German TV film)
Märchenperlen ("Fairy Tale Pearls") is a series of fairy tale films produced by the German TV network ZDF, which airs one or two new installments every Christmas season. Having already seen the series' excellent adaptations of Cinderella and Snow White, I looked forward to seeing its version of Sleeping Beauty. This film starts out as a faithful retelling of the Grimms' Briar Rose, with some inspiration drawn from the 1971 German film too. But the princess falls asleep just a quarter of the way through, and from there on, it becomes quite an inventive retelling... in more than one sense of the word.
In an 18th century kingdom, King Arthur (Dirk Bach) and Queen Ute (ChrisTine Urspruch) long in vain for a child, until Queen Ute sheds a tear into a well, out of which pops a talking frog (in slightly jarring CGI) that foretells the birth of Princess Rosalinde. When the princess is born, twelve wise women are invited to her christening, but since the king has only twelve golden plates, the thirteenth wise woman, Zeta, goes uninvited. (Yes, this version follows the Grimms in calling them "wise women" instead of "fairies," although Zeta is referred to as "a wicked fairy" later.) These wise women are stately, ethereal, middle-aged and elderly figures in black robes and silver-gray veils, who sing an ethereal, Enya-like song before they bestow their gifts. When Zeta (Nicole Spiekermann) arrives unexpectedly, she sets the Lord Chamberlain's beard on fire and turns the guards' spears to snakes, and then curses the princess to prick her finger and die on her fifteenth birthday. Of course the twelfth wise women, Svenia (Dorothea Parton), alters the curse to a hundred-year sleep. Nonetheless, despite the distraught pleas of the kingdom's peasant women, King Arthur has every spinning wheel burned.
Fifteen years later (the passage of time conveyed by a minstrel's song), Rosalinde, nicknamed Rosa (Anna Hausburg) has grown to be a free-spirited, tomboyish beauty. She frolics in nature and plays at sword-fighting with peasant boys, and loves science as well, idolizing Leonardo da Vinci and aspiring to be an inventor herself. But her progressive spirit can't save her from her fate, as on her birthday morning, when her parents are out buying her a horse as a gift, she hears a mysterious voice singing from inside a tower. It is, of course, an ethereal wise woman's song, and when Rosa ventures into the tower, she finds a disguised Zeta with a spinning wheel. When Rosa falls asleep (not on the usual bed, or even in her spinning chair – this poor princess has to spend a hundred years lying on a pile of straw on the floor), the rest of the castle instantly falls asleep with her, and briars quickly grow all around.
A hundred years later, in the early 19th century, we meet our new protagonist: Prince Frederik (Moritz Schulze). This prince is an aspiring scientist and inventor, constantly studying with his mentor Professor Prätorius (Franz-Joseph Dieken), to the dismay of his mother Queen Margarete (Bettina Kupfer), who would rather see him find a bride. He doesn't believe in fairy tales like the popular story of "Briar Rose" either. But as it happens, his greatest invention so far is the photograph, and he attaches his tiny clockwork camera to the bodies of pigeons so they can bring back pictures from far and wide. To his surprise, he finds that his latest areal photo set includes pictures of the sleeping court inside the briar-covered castle, and of the sleeping Rosa, whose beauty captivates him.
At first Frederik tries to battle the briars with a sword, but the seemingly sentient briars entwine him like snakes and he barely escapes with his life. Undeterred, he performs a series of clever, funny experiments back at home, testing different methods of avoiding the briars, all in vain. But eventually, he devises an elaborate, daring new invention: the hot air balloon. After long construction, Frederik and Professor Prätorius experience the wonder of flight. But when they reach the castle, the magic briars ensnare the balloon's rope, their escape throws them off course, and a storm forces them to land in the nearby forest. Ultimately, fairy tale magic and courage succeeds where science fails: the next day, Frederik once again charges at the briars with a sword, and when he does so, a hundred years having gone by to the day, the briars vanish. The wise women's otherworldly song then leads Frederik to Rosa, whom he wakes with a kiss on her forehead. Her parents and the rest of the court awaken too, Frederik and Rosa's love blossoms as they discover their shared passion for science, and all ends happily.
Overall, this is a fresh and enjoyable Sleeping Beauty: mostly lighthearted in tone, without the emotional depth of some other versions, but engaging all the same. While the addition of science and invention into a classic fairy tale might seem awkward, it works surprisingly well, adding liveliness and creativity yet never outbalancing the magical elements. The film's aesthetics are appropriately charming, colorful, and fairy tale-ish too (though the special effects can be corny at times) and the cast is strong.
This is definitely a Sleeping Beauty I would recommend.
@ariel-seagull-wings, @thealmightyemprex, @faintingheroine, @reds-revenge, @fairytaleslive, @the-blue-fairie, @themousefromfantasyland, @thatscarletflycatcher, @paexgo-rosa, @comma-after-dearest
17 notes
·
View notes
ARD-Kultkrimi„Tatort“ aus Münster: „Alberich“ darf doch bleiben
Die JF schreibt: »Mit einem Interview hatte die Schauspielerin Christine Urspruch für Aufregung gesorgt. Nun sagt die „Alberich“-Darstellerin, sie sei falsch verstanden worden.
Dieser Beitrag ARD-Kultkrimi„Tatort“ aus Münster: „Alberich“ darf doch bleiben wurde veröffentlich auf JUNGE FREIHEIT. http://dlvr.it/Sv86cV «
0 notes
christine urspruch: "mit 5/6 hab ich heimlich mitgeschaut und war bei dem intro schon total schockiert und beängstigt.."
meanwhile me with 6/7: "ah, this seems nice. *casually enjoys german crime tv show with 7*"
0 notes
DAS TATORT GEHEIMNIS
mit Axel Prahl, Jan Josef Liefers, ChrisTine Urspruch, Dietmar Bär, Klaus Behrendt, Jörg Hartmann, Anna Schudt, Stefanie Reinsperger und Rick Okon
am 29.10.2022 um 21:45 Uhr im WDR
19 notes
·
View notes