UFA Filmnächte 2025: Vaudeville (Varieté

UFA Filmnächte 2025: Vaudeville (Varieté) transports audiences to the glittering heart of 1920s Berlin, where the silent‑film legend VARIETÉ still shines as one of UFA’s most celebrated successes. Based on Felix Hollaender’s novel, the film follows Hüller, a Hamburg showbiz owner and former high‑wire artist whose passion for a young dancer leads him to leave his family in pursuit of a new life. When the couple finally steps onto the famed Berlin Wintergarten with a renowned trapeze artist, their professional partnership turns into a volatile, private triad, and a bloody escalation threatens to shatter everything they have built. Directed by Ewald André Dupont (1891–1956), this psychologically dense drama blends love, jealousy, and a second chance amid loss of control, and cements DUPONT’s reputation for delivering gripping characters that echo across decades of cinema. Emile Jannings delivers a towering portrayal of the humiliated lover, a role that foreshadows his later work in Murnau’s *The Last Man* (1924) and Sternberg’s *The Blue Angel* (1930). The stunning visual narrative is captured through Carl Freund’s “unleashed camera,” which brings to life every suspenseful beat of the original show. With original footage from the Berlin Wintergarten—destroyed in World War II—VARIETÉ stands as a rare historical window into the city’s legendary variety circuit, making this screening an invaluable cultural experience. Discover the drama, the daring artistry, and the enduring legacy of a film that paved the way for Hollywood stars Emil Jannings and Lya de Putti, as well as director E.A. Dupont. Join us for a night of cinema, history, and unforgettable storytelling. For details & tickets, visit the UFA Filmnächte 2025 website.