The Power of Emotion
Alexander Kluge
1983
90 Minutes
Date
June 13–July 17, 2024
“It begins with infatuation and ends with divorce. It begins in 1933 and ends in ruins. The great operas begin promisingly with heightened emotion, and in the fifth act we count the dead.” In a collage of individual episodes and continuous fragments, play and documentary scenes, operas and silent film quotations, Kluge asks about the destructive power of feelings. The opera as a “powerhouse of emotions” plays a central role—and also stands for confidence against better judgment: How can the chamber singer in Rigoletto sing in the first act with a spark of hope in his face when, after 84 performances, he must know the terrible outcome awaiting him in the fifth act? The opera is located in Frankfurt am Main, a “cold and rational environment.” The sun rises over the river banks and is reflected in the high-rise facades. Historical and private catastrophes take their course, but “all feelings believe in a happy ending.”