Henny Porten and the weight of a falling crown

Is it worth your time?

If you have a weird itch to see how early German cinema treated its national myths, sure. Go for it. But if you're looking for something that actually moves, stay away. This is strictly for the history nerds and people who collect old theater programs.

Henny Porten carries the whole thing on her shoulders, which is honestly a lot to ask of anyone. She plays the Queen with this heavy, tragic intensity that makes you feel like she’s carrying the entire Prussian treasury in her pockets. It’s effective, I guess, but it’s also exhausting.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Luise, Königin von Preußen (1931) through its definitive frames.

The vibe of it all

The movie feels stiff. Not just "old movie" stiff, but I-think-the-camera-was-bolted-to-the-floor stiff. You get these long, sweeping scenes of people in expensive costumes standing in rooms that look like they haven't been aired out in a decade. Napoleon shows up, and he’s portrayed exactly how you’d expect—arrogant and looming—but there’s no real spark between the characters.

There's this one moment where they're negotiating the Peace of Tilsit, and the tension is supposed to be thick enough to cut with a knife. Instead, it feels like watching a very slow, very expensive board game where everyone has already lost.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Luise, Königin von Preußen (1931) through its definitive frames.

Small details that stuck

• The lace on the collars. I don't know why, but it looked incredibly itchy.
• Gustaf Gründgens is there, doing his usual thing. He’s always interesting to watch, even when he’s just standing in the corner looking sinister.
• The lighting in the palace scenes is bizarrely flat. It’s like they were afraid to let a single shadow hit the Queen’s face.

Comparing this to something like The W Plan makes you realize how differently people approached historical conflict on screen. One feels like a spy thriller, and this feels like a funeral march. It doesn't have the grit of Rain, that's for sure. It’s just... very polite.

I found myself drifting off around the hour mark. The film keeps trying to convince you that this moment matters, that history is happening right in front of your eyes, but it forgot to make the humans in the room feel like, well, humans. They’re just statues reciting dates. 🏛️

It’s not bad, necessarily. It’s just very, very heavy. If you want to see how a star like Porten navigates a script that doesn't give her much to do besides look sad, be my guest. Otherwise, it’s a bit of a slog.