Madchën in Uniform; a radical lesbian film from 1930s German

December 16, 2023.

Lots of lesbian films take place in female-only environment such as girls’ high school. For instance, Memento Mori directed by Min Kyu-dong is a horror film that takes place in a Korean girls’ high school where homosexuality is treated as a taboo, but some students secretly love each other. Actually, it’s an over-used subject nowadays, but Madchën in Uniform is one of the original films that first portrayed lesbianism happening in same-sex area. Even considering the era and country that it was made- 1930s in German right before Nazi - it is still a radical film not only talking about lesbianism but also expressing anti-fascism. This paper will analyze about how homosexuality is working in the most conservative area that is separated from the society, how teenagers girls are well portrayed and why the ending is still meaningful in modern era.

Homosexuality in the most conservative place

Madchën in Uniform takes place in an all-women boarding school where they train girls to be the soldiers’ wives. The film starts with showing Manuela, a 14-year-old depressed looking girl entering the school. We can see every student is wearing uniform, and singing together. It is very easy to tell that this is a conservative school without knowing the background of it: the shots of censoring the letters that students send outside, forcefully taking students’ things that are ‘inappropriate’, and making them bow every time the teachers walk pass, and more and more. Especially the title ‘uniform’ symbolizes the oppression on the girls. The word uniformity implies that the students have to obey the patriarchal rules. Uniform is an often-used method for the authority to limit people’s outfit to put them in control. Furthermore, students are treated as a reproduce mean, not human beings that should be respected.

After her entrance, the students pass an anecdote/myth about Governess Fräulein von Bernburg to Manuela; they know the teacher’s mannerisms to girls, and fantasize about it. Even the name tag on her used uniform foreshadows her feelings. Some people could read this without a queer code, but the tension of the scene where Manuela meets von Bernburg for the first time is undeniable. Starting of the scene, Von Bernburg appears in the shot first, and she goes up on the stairs. As she turns around, Manuela, who is still buttoning her shirts, is there. To interpret this shot with the perspective of gaze, von Bernburg has a power dynamic because of the fact that she saw Manuela first in a calm, relaxing position while Manuela is in a rush and chaotic. By making an excuse to observe the student as a teacher, she delicately stares at her and says be tidier. These shots are also interesting because technically Manuela is standing above von Bernburg, but still Manuela is under her control. This shot reminded me of Stoker directed by Park Chan-Wook where uncle Charlie is standing above on the staircase and telling India to come up to feel ‘equal’.

Additionally, von Bernburg’s acting shows the teacher’s complicated personality of being strict and taking care of the student at the same time: telling her about the rules seriously, but she is holding Manuela’s hands as if she is taking care of her. I would like to mention that there is a politics of taking care. Care happens usually between a relationship that has power dynamic whether its intention is healthy or not. For example, a person taking care of a cat just seems normal, but when taking a careful look, we could see that the cat is vulnerable and everything is in the charge of the owner. Sometimes this power dynamic could be uncomfortable, but some people/object/ animal require the labor of care. To apply this to Madchën in Uniform, von Bernburg’s attitude towards students could be made uncomfortable by the fact that she is much older and a person in power. However, students including Manuela need that attention and love to survive. Von Bernburg’s action of care develops herself to emphasize and understand (which is impossible, yet it is meaningful that she tries) to protect Manuela at the end.

Not only the relationship between Manuela and von Bernburg, but also the relationships in general in this school could be read as romantic. Generally the organizations where the members are all-women or all-men, such as girls’ high school or military, make the members inevitably have all the social interactions with each other. The society has to separate women from men to ‘educate’ them to be transmitters of the patriarchal German culture. In Madchën in Uniform, the space is clearly divided that the exterior part from the outer world is only shown once, and the interior environment of the school is the only thing that appears on the screen. Furthermore, without the male authority figure in this institution, the principle takes place of the phallic authority, and becomes a phallic woman. It’s similar to the nuns, where there is no male figure but they serve the orders made by men. It’s ironic that the patriarchal figure is absent, but a female becomes a substitute for it. However, this separation leads them to homosexual experience. For instance, in this film, their interactions are pretty intimate both mentally, and physically. Particularly the shot sequence of two girls whispering to each other in a close distance and the girls changing their clothes in the same room underlines the high level of intimacy. After that shot, we could see Manuela and her friend Edelgard sitting on the bed together, leaning to each other. When von Bernburg enters the room, they look surprised as if their affair is revealed to the teacher. Edelgard awkwardly leaves the room, and Manuela confesses about her being an orphan to von Bernburg. Von Bernburg promises to come back to the bedroom, and that’s where the most intimate and erotic scene in this film happens. Every student waits for Von Bernburg to give them a good night kiss. The shots of her giving a kiss repeat, which doubles the tension and makes the audiences feel as if they are Manuela. Some people could point out that This repetition might not be economical but there is a valid reason for it: I claim that repetition that has reason is valid. Because of her actions of giving a kiss make us wait for the final destination -– Manuela, – these shots are brilliantly structured. The close-up shot of von Bernburg giving Manuela a kiss on her lips is beautifully composed; we can see their height difference, and the gaze of von Bernbug vertically landing to Manuela’s eyes.

Capricious teenagers

When it comes to defining teenager, the word capricious is often used. Teenager is a phase when people learn how to be mature but become sensitive and emotional at the same time. It could be easily described that they are half adult and half child. In Madchën in Uniform, the portrayal of the teenagers is interesting; it is more realistic than fantasizing. Generally, the students trying the sneak out of the boredom from the strict school rules shows how immature they are in their age. The contrast between the rigid atmosphere of the school and girls doing what they want to do and giggling is impressive. One of the scenes that was most impactful is almost at the end of the film where one of the girls trying to tell the princess about how Manuela is treated by the principle. She first makes an announcement that she will try to help Manuela confidently, and then she fails. When the princess walks past her, she looks like she wants to say something as she approaches, but can’t say a thing. Afterward, her friends blame on her about not doing anything. The interesting part is where she makes an excuse after the students leave. She hunches, which shows that she is upset and embarrassed, and then yells toward them that it’s not her fault. The other scene where where Manuela acts in the school play was interesting, too. This scene plays an important role in this film, because Manuela confesses her feeling in front of the students. She is dressed in male attire, acts as a knight who is crazy in love, and becomes emotional. After her act, students get drunk after drinking punches. Her toast was impulsive, causing the stir; she said she is in love with von Bernburg, and she got an underwear from her. Manuela looks like a young girl who is suffering from lovesickness. The actress’ acting amplified the childishness because Manuela looks like she’s never been drunk in her life, totally out of control of what she’s talking about. Even she doesn’t remember what happened after waking up in the bed: an amnesia.

A queer film that doesn’t return to the social norm

Especially in older queer films, and still, the characters who are going through a denial/ confusion time with their sexual orientation or gender identity end up dying or going back to the heterosexual life that the society forces them. The film Cracks (2009) by Jordan Scott takes place in a girls’ school where the teacher is obsessed with her student; eventually, the student dies because of the teacher’s endless desire and jealousy. Compared with Cracks, Madchën in Uniform has a radical ending. Although Manuela dies in the original play, she doesn’t die in the film. Instead of showing the students getting married with the soldiers, this film chose to show the principle walking down the staircase and leaving the school. This scene has a big impact because Manuela was the one who was trying to kill herself -– by falling from the staircase -– but instead, the principle walks down. Some people could point out that it’s not radical and it’s not subverting the power, because at that time all of the students will end up getting married, and any of them are possible to get liberated in the fascist patriarchal society. It is true that their liberation is hardly achievable, but this film is still meaningful when considering the fact that it was made in 1930s. Of course a film cannot change the whole society, but its fictional area gives an opportunity for the fictional characters to live on and shows that that kind of world could also exist.

To bring up the controversy of the age difference appeared on the screen, it is disturbing by that Manuela is only 14 and von Bernburg is way older than her. Manuela and von Bernburg’s relationship could be read as pedophilic but as mentioned on the second previous paragraph, their relationship mainly focuses on taking care and receiving the care. Von Bernburg is the one who really cares about the students’ well being, and provides help when they need it. Another problem that this analysis could bring is to read their relationship excluding the queer perspective. The critiques at that time when it was released described that their relationship is like a mother-daughter relationship because Manuela doesn’t have a mother, and Von Bernburg is the one who treats her like a ‘daughter’. This is the trap that queer films could fall when the homophobic audiences try to claim that films are not ‘gay’. Actually this phenomenon happens frequently nowadays, too. When the Handmaiden was released in Korea, old conservative viewers claimed Sukhee and Hideko are just good friends after watching a film that ends with a lesbian sex scene. Also some Korean audiences described Carol and Therese as a mother-daughter relationship after watching Carol. That’s one of the reasons why the directors try to put more explicit scenes in queer film. Additionally, physical intimacy between women is socially accepted when the opposite is treated as homosexuality. For instance, it is a friendly gesture when girls hold hand with each other, but it looks totally gay when boys hold hands with each other. This internalized homophobic perspective gives a space for the conservative to blur their eyes from lesbianism and makes them able to point out that is is just a friendship. Coming back to Madchën in Uniform, it is ridiculous to view them without any romantic context since there was a kiss scene shown in a deliberately developed way. Furthermore, it is impossible to justify the age gap, but what was crucially operating in this film was that Von Bernburg is acting against the principle. Von Bernburg has a power to send those girls to the cruel situation, but she doesn’t abuse it. She acts as a ‘good cop’, while the principle is the ‘bad cop’. Considering the fact that it was a fascist society at that time in German, the ending is questioning and undermining the oppress on women and queer people. Von Bernburg could be viewed as a closet gay who wants to hide their identity because coming out means that she is refusing to love man, and accepting woman, which is a double challenge toward the social norm. Thus, her action can be viewed even in a more radical perspective.

To sum up, Madchën in Uniform is not only a radical lesbian directly shows erotic context between Manuela and Von Bernburg, but also a meaningful film that still gives a message to contemporary audiences. Lesbianism in this film takes place in the most oppressive boarding school where the male figure is absent but the phallic woman - the principle - takes the place to obey the patriarchal rules. This structure is ironically causing homosexuality between girls since they are solely interacting with each other. Also, Von Bernburg’s love could be read as care-giving actions that are crucial to young girls who are growing up without their parents. Also, the teenager girls are well portrayed that they actually look like young girls in their puberty. The scene of Manuela getting drunk and confessing her love plays an important part in this film and also shows her impulsive behavior and adolescent phase she’s going on. Lastly, this film’s ending suggests to refuse the social norm that the privileged made: dragging down the authority figure to show anti-fascism, and rejecting heterosexuality and embracing one’s homosexuality. Also Manuela doesn’t kill herself in the film compared to the original play where she commits suicide. It is meaningful because although it’s just a film, they gave a possibility for queer/woman character to live and be what they are. There are still lots of queer people dying because of the oppressive environment surrounding them, and queer love could be a sensitive subject to talk about but it is crucial for a film to speak about the world where the minority could just live on, and everything just goes on.

Works cited list

Carol, directed by Todd Haynes, performance by Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Number 9 Films, 2015.

Cracks, directed by Jordan Scott, performance by Eva Green, Element Pictures, 2009.

Memento Mori, directed by Min Kyu-dong, performance by Park Ye-jin, Lee Young-jin, Cinema Service, 1999.

Madchëen in Uniform, directed by Leontine Sagan, performance by Emilia Unda, Fräulein von Nordeck zur Nidden, Deutsche Film-Gemeinschaft, 1931.

Stoker, directed by Park Chan-Wook, performance by Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Indian paintbrush, 2013.

The Handmaiden, directed by Park Chan-Wook, performance by Minhee Kim, Taeri Kim, Moho Film Production, 2016.