Gosia is a beautiful and innocent young maid on the catholic countryside tending the cattle. One summer day she is having a bath in the river naked as god created her. On the next day a stranger appears painting and painting all day long. As they talk the black dressed suddenly shows her a picture showing her naked in the river. At first she is very ashamed, but then she begins to forget her shyness.
The story of Polish pedagogue Janusz Korczak and his dedication to protecting Jewish orphans during the war.
Polish socialist and Marxist Rosa Luxemburg works tirelessly in the service of revolution in early 20th century Poland and Germany. While Luxemburg campaigns for her beliefs, she is repeatedly imprisoned as she forms the Spartacist League offering a new vision for Germany.
Two women escape to the mountains where they enjoy each others company, apparently disappointed with their male partners.
A large train station, it might be anywhere in a big city. Waiting passengers, some are curiously observing each other, some are too much involved with their own petty problems to pay attention to anything else. Our man, self- assured, practically undresses some of the woman present with his eyes, at least as long as his wife is absent, trying to get them some coffee. A beauty in blue returns his challenging looks, he can hardly believe it's true. Obviously, it is his lucky day today. By the time his wife returns our man has experienced some astonishing things under the watchful eyes of the fellow passengers. And most probably he will be much more reserved next time he sees a beautiful blonde.
The film takes a look at a professional gambler, who very successfully specialized on the German version of the slot machine.
The life and struggles of the German writer Heinrich von Kleist.
A fearless Antigone, refusing to allow the dishonored body of her murdered brother Polynices to be devoured by vultures and dogs, defies the Thebian tyrant Creon by burying him.
A woman is longing to make love to her husband once again, but he is always working or tired. At her wit's end she consults a medium, who has a couple of solutions for her problem. The first two solutions fail, but maybe the sweets will help?
A short by Detlev Buck.
The Walter Mitty-esque tale of a Brooklyn dental hygienist who escapes into a painting by 17th-century Dutch master Peter de Hooc. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
Shortly after World War II an American soldier (Norman) and a Polish refugee (Emilia) fall in love. Eventually he will return to the U.S. and both expect that she will soon follow him with her mother. Emilia's mother is sick, but will recover with the right medicine. But the mother, and not Emilia, knows that there will only be one ticket...
A writer taking a rest in a country hotel is obsessed with a strange woman in the same hotel. The woman seems to observe him in provocative ways, but he does not dare to approach her. One day he follows her to her room and listens to strange “erotic” sounds from inside, and begins to have erotic thoughts.
A series of erotic short films, all with similar unexpected endings.
The story of Jacob Fabian, a somewhat liberal Berlin advertising copywriter who witnesses the collapse of the prewar German society during the 1930s.
Marcel Ophüls interviews various important Eastern European figures for their thoughts on the reunification of Germany and the fall of Communism.
Two life stories. That of Malou, a French woman, married to a German Jew, a refugee stranded in South America: a picture of the pre-war generation reflected in the unusual destiny of an individual woman. And that of Hannah, an alert, independent, modern woman, seeking after freedom and her own identity, and trying in present-day Berlin to save her shaky marriage.
The days pass slowly for Lia amid the vineyards of a rural Georgian village. Still in the prime of life, her beauty is overlooked even by her husband Sandro, who runs the local car repair shop. Things change when Megi, the comely star of a film being shot nearby, happens upon the scene to get her car repaired. Lia knows a rival when she sees one - although she's also aware she doesn't stand a chance against a mini-skirt. Megi, however, has a few tricks up her sleeve too - she knows what a Cinderella needs to rid herself of the pumpkin.
After the essay "On Marionette theatre" by Heinrich von Kleist.
A very clever parrot lives in a Hindu palace, surrounded by many beautiful girls, but the parrot escapes, and is trapped far from the palace. One day, when its new owner is sleeping, the bird convinces a young boy to open the cage door. In return, it shows the boy a secret passage to get into the palace.
