Young Törless (Der junge Törless)
Directed by Volker Schlöndorff
Written by Herbert Asmadi and Volker Schlöndorff from a novel by Robert Musil
1966/West Germany/France
Franz Seitz Filmproduktion/Nouvelles Editions de Films
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Thomas Törless: There’s no mystery there. Things just happen. Anything’s possible. There’s not an evil world and a good world. They exist together in the same world.[/box]
I knew going in that I did not want to watch a movie about torture at a boarding school and got exactly what I deserved.
Thomas Törless (Mathieu Carriere) is a cerebral young man who is the latest arrival at a German boarding school. He is befriended by students Beineberg and Reiting. Another student, Basini, steals money from one to pay a debt owed to another. Instead of reporting the incident to school authorities, the boys devise their own punishment. This comprises escalating forms of torture and humiliation. Basini goes along in the mistaken belief that he will eventually be let alone. Thomas passively looks on in a futile effort to understand human behavior. With Barbara Steele as a prostitute.
If you are not as squeamish as I, there is an interesting analogy to Nazi Germany to explore here and lots of philosophical talk.
Couldn’t find anything with subtitles, so here’s this
