Nerven (Reinert)

In Nerven, writer-director-producer Robert Reinert tried to capture the "nervous epidemic" caused by war and misery which "drives people mad". This unique portrait of the life in 1919 Germany, filmed on location in Munich, describes the cases of different people from all levels of society: Factory owner Roloff who looses his mind in view of catastrophies and social disturbances, teacher John who is the hero of the masses and Marja who turns into a radical revolutionary.
Using different fragments the Munich Film Museum could reconstruct this forgotten German classic which is a historic document and anticipates already elements of the Expressionist cinema of the 1920s.








Nerven / Nerves - Germany (1919)
directed and written by: Robert Reinert
photography by: Helmar Lerski
cast: Eduard von Winterstein, Lya Borée, Erna Morena, Paul Bender, Lili Dominici, Rio Ellbon - produced by: Monumentalfilm Robert Reinert, Munich

Nerven (1919), 110'
Piano score by Joachim Bärenz
Side-by-side comparison of the different fragments: Marja's wedding preparations 5'
Side-by-side comparison of the different fragments: At the nerve specialist's 8'
Side-by-side comparison of the different fragments: Roloff's paranoia 6'
Bilder von der Volksbewegung in München (1919), 3'
München im Zeichen der Räterepublik (1919), 11'
Posters, stills and lobby cards

Booklet with essays by Jan-Christopher Horak, Stefan Drössler and David Bordwell
Herausgeber: Filmmuseum München, Goethe-Institut München

4:3 (PAL) / 1.33:1 / music score / Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo) / German intertitles / subtitles: English, French