Die Puppe

With an introduction by Michael Omasta and live musical accompaniment by Gerhard Gruber.

Baron de Chantarelle pretends to be dying in order to finally marry his rich nephew Lancelot, who is very inhibited towards women. When forty virgins respond to the marriage advert, Lancelot is terrified and flees to a monastery. The greedy monks advise him to enter into a sham marriage, but not with a human partner, but with a doll's wife instead. In reality, however, the chosen one is the daughter of the doll maker Hilarius. Comedy star Ossi Oswalda in the role of the ‘automaton woman’ leads Lancelot by the nose and explores gender boundaries. The artificial fairytale world of papier-mâché full of Hoffmannesque characters, their wit, charm and tongue-in-cheek irony bear witness to the proverbial Lubitsch touch. (Anett Werner-Burgmann)