The Power of Emotion (German: Die Macht der Gefühle) is a 1983 West German essay film written and directed by Alexander Kluge.[1][2] It was entered into the main competition at the 40th Venice International Film Festival.[3]

The Power of Emotion
Directed by
Written by
Produced by
StarringAlexandra Kluge, Hannelore Hoger
CinematographyWerner Luring, Thomas Mauch
Edited byCarola Mai, Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus
Music byGiuseppe Verdi
Distributed byZDF, Kairos-Film
Release date
  • 17 September 1983 (1983-09-17)
Running time
115 minutes
CountryWest Germany
LanguageGerman

The film uses a mixture of documentary, fictionalized narrative and archive footage to explore the ways in which cinema can express emotion. Like Germany in Autumn (1978) The Power of Emotion draws on multiple short narratives or documentary sequences, including the trial of a woman who has shot her husband to death, an interview with an opera singer, the state funeral of Heinz-Herbert Karry [de], sequences from Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen, a time lapse of the Frankfurt skyline and a story of fugitive diamond thieves.[4]

"The film Die Macht der Gefühle is not about feelings," Kluge wrote, "but rather their organization: how they can be organized by chance, through outside factors, murder, destiny; how they are organized, how they encounter the fortune they are seeking."[5]

References

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  1. "Die Macht der Gefühle - The Power of Emotion". Variety Film Reviews. Garland Pub. 1983. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-8352-2798-8.
  2. Prange, Regine (5 June 2024). "The Crystal Palace as the Parliament of Objects: On Alexander Kluge's Collage Film "The Power of Emotion"". RIHA Journal. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
  3. Grazzini, Giovanni (7 September 1983). "Il fascino visivo dell'Enigma del profeta Kluge". Corriere della Sera. p. 21.
  4. Miriam Hansen et al. (2012). Alexander Kluge: Raw Materials for the Imagination. Amsterdam University Press. p. 401.
  5. "Courtisane: Die Macht der Gefühle". www.courtisane.be. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
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