Die Legende von Paul und Paula

Die Legende von Paul und Paula was a big box-office success in the former GDR, but a modern audience will have trouble seeing why, for with its minimal plot and bombastic symbolism the film frankly seems a little naff today. As a historical document, however, the film is interesting. For East German citizens in the mid-1970s, the film was a brave attempt to depict the problems of everyday life realistically.

Paul and Paula come from very different social classes. She is a worker, while he is a white-collar employee. It seems contradictory that there were social divides in the socialist workers' state, where everyone was officially equal. It is no less grotesque that these divides were seldom bridged. That is Paul and Paula's achievement.

Paul is married, but not happy with his unfaithful wife. He falls for the spontaneous Paula, a single mother of two. In the former GDR, however, getting a divorce was not that simple, so Paul and Paula do not have much on which to build a future together.