Summary
In the opulent, high-stakes social circles of 1920s Vienna, Dr. Josef Rittenhaus is a man whose professional success has blinded him to the emotional decay of his own household. As a physician of high standing, Josef is lured by the philanthropic—and perhaps more-than-professional—overtures of Countess von Nessa, who offers the resources for a prestigious new sanitarium. This ambition leaves his wife, Laura, isolated and increasingly resentful of his cold indifference. Seeking to bridge the growing chasm between them, Laura becomes a central figure in a dangerous game of social chess. She fends off the opportunistic advances of Josef's supposed friend, Carl Tanzer, and attempts to trigger her husband's dormant passion through a series of calculated, often desperate, provocations. The narrative follows Laura through a gauntlet of societal traps, from a bogus letter to a chaotic encounter with the predatory Fritz Schwerman, ultimately leading to a high-tension card game where she attempts to play the role of the 'vamp.' As the Countess makes her final move on the doctor, the film explores whether a marriage built on neglect can survive a night of public scandal and private revelation.
Synopsis
Dr. Josef Rittenhaus, a popular young society physician of Vienna, at the behest of his friend Waldstein, goes to consider a proposal by Countess von Nessa to donate a site and funds for the erection of a new sanitarium. His wife, Laura, piqued by his apparent indifference, is left in the hands of Carl Tanzer, supposedly the doctor's best friend, whose advances she rejects. Laura contrives to make her husband jealous with a bogus letter, but to no avail; later, escaping from a masher, she meets her husband's friend Fritz Schwerman, from whom she escapes after accepting a luncheon offer. While Laura tries to vamp her husband's other friends at a card game, the countess tries to make love to the doctor. Rittenhaus returns home in disgust and is happily reconciled with his wife.
