Young Törless (1966)

I selected this DVD off a library shelf at random. I had never heard of Young Torless. My idle curiosity was well rewarded. The film belongs in the same league with Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Zero for Conduct, Lord of the Flies, or other similar works. Perhaps there is allegory here, a foreshadowing of the murderous future of the Germanic peoples. Or maybe a nearer, smaller-scale atrocity: several scenes are as chilling as eavesdropping on a Leopold and Loeb strategy session.This is expertly crafted film making. Everything – casting, shot composition, editing, plot structure – works. Barbara Steele landed one of the great roles of her career. The music is especially effective. Hans Werner Henze's use of modern tonalities played on ancient instruments functions perfectly, achieving the film score ideal that complements the picture and other sounds, a Greek chorus without words. Aided by Henze's score, some of the scenes in Young Torless brought back with painful clarity many a sad, bleak, cloudy-morning memory of sophomore year in high school.

The idea of writing a story about a boarding school where bullies humiliate and torture weaker classmates is interesting and well worth making into a film, so I was interested in seeing this German film. However, the main character, Törless, was so confusing and inconsistent that it really damaged the overall impact. During much of the film, this lad seemed to be almost sleepwalking through the film. Many times, he just stared or watched but said or did almost nothing. Then, other times, he unexpectedly participated in some of the humiliation of his classmate. And, at another time, he was totally disconnected and observed the beatings and humiliations like a cold and clinical character reminiscent of a character from a Camus novel. Then, towards the end he announced that the torment was wrong and he tried to get the young man who was being physically, emotionally and sexually abused to come forward. As a result of this exceptionally poorly written character, so much of the impact of the film is missing. This is definitely a case of "what might have been". Oh, and speaking of 'sexually abused', this whole VERY IMPORTANT part of the story is poorly handled--being vaguely alluded to and then minimized. I would think a person being raped and sodomized might be a bit deal, but in this film it didn't seem that way at all.

Toerless was among the recommendations I got in my MovieLens account. When I finally decided to give it a go, I read the back of the DVD box and thought, "this looks dry and pedantic." My initial estimate was supported. Toerless is about dreary people who make dreary choices. Three students make it their job to judge a fourth whom they find to be a thief. The intellectualizing and discussions among the three are just rationalization for bullying. And the movie is really not much more ponderous or enlightening than this. None of the characters is one I'd have any respect for, Toerless included; they are all creatures of the author and director who wish to teach us something. Even a professor who at first is interested in Toerless' fascination with imaginary numbers is made to be whimpy and unsympathetic. Toerless is a humorless film that forces us to view this world through a lens of a single issue. I'd say it was tedious rather than edifying.

Faithfully adapted from author Robert Musil, this study of sadism and masochism among students at an Austro-Hungarian boys prep school is a parable of fascism and its origins. Barbara Steele is radiant and splendid as Bozena the prostitute who awakens the nascent sexual nature of the adolescent students. Lovingly photographed in black and white, YOUNG TORLESS evokes the mood and claustrophobic horror of the dehumanizing military system. Matthew Carriere gives an unblemished and heartfelt performance as an innocent caught behind the barbed wire walls of his very soul and the duty to which he has been placed. A must-see for everyone and an advocacy for pacificism. This was Volker Schloendorff's first film, and by admission one of Barbara Steele's favorite roles.