rheinsberg | Pic Spam: Heinrich and two of his boyfriends from the 1986 tv version of Fontane's "Wanderungen" (Reply)

I've now watched three of the 1986 five parts tv version of Fontane's Wanderungen. It's well done and interesting in more than one historical way - i.e. the then contemporary pictures of the Mark capture the GDR (well, the PR licensed part of same) as it was then - and the dramatizations of various Fontane related anecdotes for the most part work well. It's also interesting which stores were used from the book, and which weren't. I mean, I could be wrong, but I doubt the last two episodes will contain Küstrin, for the simple reason that it's in Poland, though of course a GDR team could have gone there. But it's still noticable that the scriptwriters went more for "clever commoner gets the better of a noble" type of story than for "tragedy between the nobility" kind of tales. (Like I said, I could be wrong, maybe the last episode will include Wust and all the Katte deaths.) And as the Rheinsberg Obelisk in 1986 did not contain any of the inscriptions for the varous 7 Years War heroes anymore - these plates had been removed and had to be restored post reunification - , it's not surprising that the Obelisk gets a mention, but Fontane's extensive description is shortened to "he built it in memory of his brother August Wilhelm". Otoh, the scriptwriters chose to dramatize the story of Heinrich getting ordered to dump Kaphengst and responding by buying him gorgeous real estate nearby, and the story of the triangle between Heinrich's last boyfriend/adjudant, the Comte de la Roche-Raymon, his wife the Comtesse, and Heinrich's nephew Louis Ferdinand, plus the subsequent fallout, in which the Heinrich/Comte relationship is the only to to survive undamaged. And you know what that means - time for screenshots! (I mean, two of Heinrich's boyfriends and Heinrich himself on screen, how could I not?)

First a few screenshots showing Rheinsberg before the restoration, as it was in 1986, when it was used as a sanatorium. For a comparison to how the restored rooms look today, see my Rheinsberg photo post.

The shell room/ball room was evidently used as the dining hall of the sanatorium:

And this is the room in the tower where Fritz had his library as Crown Prince. You're not even allowed to enter these days, you just make a picture from a distance. Meanwhile, in GDR times:

The episode introduces Heinrich first via a short version of Fontane's text (the "Why is Heinrich half forgotten today, when he was a really cool and awesome character? He's lacking a writer to write about him!" part) with present day Rheinsberg pctures, and then we cut to a dramatized costume scene, specirfically Püllnitz (not Pöllnitz!) being the unlucky sod to be sent by Fritz to tell Heinrich to kick out his boyfriend. That's the message bearer:

Püllnitz starts with the carrot, telling Heinrich that he's getting a royal present of 10 000 Friedrichsdor. Heinrich is somewhat surprised (and cautious) and wryly comments: "A royal gift."

Then Püllnitz gets to the real point: Heinrich is to immediately dismiss his boyfriend, Kaphengst, and send him away. Now, Fontane in the relevant chapter just says this message was phrased in very insulting terms. The scriptwriter, otoh, takes the opportunity to let Püllnitz deliver not just insults (the comment about the court sniggering over the name "Kaphengst", specifically the "stallion/Hengst" part), but an entire homophobic rant which sounds FW and not Fritz like (Heinrich is supposed to end a relationship that goes against the laws of god and men which say that love is only supposed to be between woman and man. I mean, Fritz could be a hypocrite, - see also "a woman will do him good", about Heinrich's marriage - but not in this specific way, using religious arguments and calling same sex relationships "disgusting". Given that the rest of the entire episode is very Heinrich friendly, I wouldn't call it homophobia on the part of the scriptwriter, either, i.e. the audience isn't supposed to agree. But it is, evidently, supposed to believe Fritz is an FW style homophobe. Heinrich's first reaction to Püllnitz starting the "ditch the boytoy" message is incredulity.

Then he gets angry. He also points out he's not the sole m/m practitioner of noble blood. "And what about all the other princes, not to mention the monarchs?"

Püllnitz says they're not talking about anyone else but just about Kaphengst and Heinrich and Fritz wanting the relationship to end. I wasn't sure at first whether the script wants us to believe the message is meant sincerely (beyond the instruction to ditch Kaphengst, that is), but now that I've watched more of the series, I think the scriptwriter really is under the impression that while Heinrich is gay, Fritz is not - I mean, no Katte, no Fredersdorf (who is in the Wanderiungen, though I guess Zernikow wasn't available for filming yet, having been very neglected at that point), but Crown Prince Fritz with Sabine the forester's daughter in a passionate kiss...

Back to this scene. Here's a screenshot when Püllntiz says "the name Cape Stallion alone..."

They try not to show the Obelisk of Fraternal Revenge in this scene, since obviously as long as Fritz is still alive, it doesn't yet exist, but here it's clearly visible. Maybe Heinrich is imagining it as he hears the continuing "dump the boytroy NOW" message:

Enter the boyfriend. Now it becames very obvious the actor playing Heinrich is far too tall (taller than the Kaphengst actor) in terms of historical reality, when it was really the other way around, but I don't have complaints otherwise. Kaphengst shows up calling "Heinrich" which is the kind of scandalous informatlity that puts Püllnitz' back up even more, and which Kaphengst corrects to "your royal highness" once he sees Heinrich isn't alone.

Bad news.

Kaphengst is stunned by the news, but assures Heinrich he will remain loyal/faithful (the word "treu" can remain both loyal in the sense of a subject to a monarch and faithful in the sense of one romantic partner to antother) to him whereever he'll go:

But Heinrich has had an idea, specifically, how to invest those 10 000 Friedrichsdor, and he says that the Wartensleben estate is free for sale. Mildred, does this mean Katte's Grandfather used to own Meseberg?

Kaphengst's mood improves immediately, and he's practically purring "Yes, my prince, this will do nicely":

Püllnitz asks w here Meseberg is, exactly, and upon hearing it's just three miles from Rheinsberg realises he and his King have been pwned, and he'll have to tell Fritz:

The other episode from Henrich's life which the tv series picks from the Rheinsberg chapters is the one featuring his last boyfriend, said boyfriend's wife, and nephew Louis Ferdinand. The boyfriend in question, French emigré Compte de la Roche-Raymon is introduced via Fontane's narrative text, a slightly shortened version, but they contain the lovely "eine Herzensgemeinschaft" and "last beam of the setting sun" warming Heinrich's life near its end bits. (BTW, I remain impressed 19th century writer Fontane is far more relaxed and as open as possible under censorship about Heinrich's gayness than a whole lot of 20th century writers.) We also hear about the young Comte falling in love with a young German lady and marrying her on the spot, and both of them following Heinrich to Rheinsberg. Along comes Heinrich's favourite nephew, Louis Ferdinand, to pay his respects. (BTW, his name was Louis - the reason why he's commonly referred to as Louis Ferdinand was a similar one to Mina being referred to as "the Princess Heinrich" by the Hohenzollern. There were several princes named Louis/Ludwig; this one was Ferdinand's son. Hence: "Prince Louis Ferdinand".)

The Comte notices his wife is flirting with Louis:

Boat trips for the foursome. Note Heinrich and the Comte are in one boat, and Louis Ferdinand and the Comtesse in the other.

The Comte notices Louis hands over sea roses to the Comtesse and isn't happy.

Heinrich asks whether the Comte still bothers with sea roses. The Comte says no. Then Louis is taking some workload of his shoulders, says Heinrich, so be happy. The Comte isn't convinced.

And this is him, Louis Ferdiand, sole Hohenzollern to die heroically in battle against Napoleon a few years later:

Extramarital sex of the m/f variety happens. (As opposed to Heinrich/Kaphengst, the series doesn't commit as to whether Heinrich had sex with the Comte, but they make it clear Heinrich loved him.) It's time for the ten duel commandments!

But the Comtesse, being a sensible and persuasive lady, stops it by telling them she'll be unhappy no matter who wins if they do this, and to just end this nonsense already.

Exist Louis Ferdinand. Now it's just the three of them.

No duell, but the mood isn't the same anymore. Brooding Comtesse:

Otoh, Henrich/Comte is still going strong. Here I have to applaud the screenwriter for taking a few sentences from Fontane - that the Comte, who later was to publish several volumes on military strategy, probably learned from Heinrich - and use them for this delightful scene:

BTW, while Heinrich and the Comte said "Sie" to each other in the earlier scenes with the Comtesse and Louis, Heinrich now says "Du".

Heinrich asks the Comte how he'd solve this situation, and the Comte delights him by suggesting a strategy which isn't the one Heinrich used, i.e. he comes up with something of his own:

Comte and Comtesse are with Heinrich when he dies. Shortly afterwards, they get this bit of real estate:

The Comte returns to France, the Comtesse does not, and when the Comte dies, his French estate goes to someone else. This guy shows up to get her German real estate as well, but in a scene from Fontane, the old Comtesse pwns him.

The Comtesse in her old age, sprightly Rokoko lady in the Wilhelminian 19th century world, dying on her sofa after her favourite cat bit her on the lip.

As she lived long enough to be interviewed by young Fontane, I think we have her to thank for the very positive image of Heinrich in the Rheinsberg chapters, since the general 19th century attitude was " good general, ungrateful brother, how could he critique the Great King?" Which in turn suggests that Heinrich got along with her and wasn't jealous, or vice versa. (But then, he'd been nice to previous boyfriend' Tauentzien's wife as well. And to Kaphengst's wife the former actress. Really, it was just his own wife he didn't get along with.)