Die freudlose Gasse (Joyless Street)

A study of postwar misery in 1921 Vienna, on a joyless street indeed.  Stock market manipulations force a man out of his job, his daughter is tempted to go into prostitution, another woman does go into prostitution, yet another woman gets murdered, a greedy butcher exchanges meat for sexual favors.  It’s heavy stuff.

One of the most exciting cinematic experiences is going into a film with low expectations and loving it.  And one of the most frustrating is wanting to love a film and ending up underwhelmed.  I really struggled with this one.  One major problem is that I often found the narrative exceptionally confusing.  This film was cut and recut and censored to hell and back, but the cut I watched was 140 minutes, which I believe is the complete version and the closest to Pabst’s original intent.  There are so many storylines and characters (some rather similar in appearance), and the film cuts between them erratically and on top of that is divided into 10 acts.  It’s more an issue in the beginning… after a while it seems to come together.  But there were still a few things I didn’t understand, people and events whose significance escaped me.

And when I could comprehend the content, it just wasn’t that compelling to me.  In theory it should be interesting, highlighting the class differences, the gap between the haves and the have-nots, the exploited and the exploiters.  But I didn’t get into it much at all.  I liked Greta Garbo much more in the previous year’s stunning Saga of Gosta Berling, here her character is rather empty and one-dimensional.  And what exactly does she expect to happen at the brothel?  People will just hand her money for looking sad at the camera?.  I appreciate the film’s intentions and sympathize with its sensibilities, but it really didn’t grab me as a nuanced treatment of the subject.

Nonetheless, it is a more sophisticated tale than one usually sees from this era, and the craftsmanship is often impressive.  The grit and grime of the lower areas is palpable, and is contrasted well against the hoity-toity milieu of the rich.  There are a few terrific expressionistic flourishes in the camerawork, especially as the movie builds towards its dramatic climax.  But the overall experience is too muddled and plodding for me to enjoy, and I’d rank it as my least favorite from Pabst so far.  Rating: Fair

IMDb