''Buddenbrooks'', released also as ''Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family'', is a

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Heinrich Breloer Heinrich Breloer (, born 17 February 1942 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German author and film director. He has mainly worked on docudramas related to modern German history and has received many awards. Breloer's 2005 docudrama ''Speer und Er'' was descr ...

, adapted from the 1901 novel of the same name by

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

. Set in the 19th century, the film portrays the decline of a wealthy family of grain merchants in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

, the Buddenbrooks, and with them a whole way of life as Germany changed radically. It stars

Armin Mueller-Stahl Armin Mueller-Stahl (born 17 December 1930) is a retired German film actor, painter and author, who also appeared in numerous English-language films since the 1980s. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role i ...

as the family's patriarch Consul Jean Buddenbrook,

Iris Berben Iris Renate Dorothea Berben (, born 12 August 1950) is a German actress and voice actress. Biography Berben was born in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia. She grew up in Hamburg, where her parents ran a restaurant. Berben has appeared in about ...

as his wife Bethsy Buddenbrook, and

Jessica Schwarz Jessica Schwarz (born 5 May 1977) is a German film and TV actress. Life and career Schwarz was born in Erbach im Odenwald and grew up in the small town of Michelstadt, Germany. She won a contest of the German teen magazine ''Bravo'' in 1993. ...

Mark Waschke Mark Waschke (born 10 March 1972) is a German theatre, film and television actor who has been performing since 2005. Early life and education Waschke was born the second of three sons in Wattenscheid, a district of the German city of Bochum. Hi ...

and August Diehl as their children Tony, Thomas, and Christian Buddenbrook, respectively. ''Buddenbrooks'' was released in Germany on 25 December 2008, and by July 2009 it was seen by more than 1.2million viewers. The film had its American premiere at the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

in June 2009. In 2010, it was released as a two–episode

television miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. " Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

, which was shown on the

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...

on 23 and 24 December, and on the Das Erste on 27 and 28 December.

Plot

The film tells the story of the Buddenbrook family over three generations — Jean Buddenbrook and his wife Bethsy; their sons Thomas and Christian; their daughter Tony; and Thomas' son Hanno. Even though he dearly loves them, Jean Buddenbrook expects his children to subordinate their personal happiness to the welfare of the family firm. The first to learn this is Tony who, after a holiday romance with a medical student from a modest family, is married off to Bendix Grünlich, a prominent businessman in Hamburg who shortly after goes bankrupt: Jean brings her home. Her brothers have meanwhile been learning their trade in Amsterdam and London. Crushed by Tony's marital disaster and several unlucky transactions, Jean Buddenbrook makes over the business to Thomas, the elder son. Thomas leaves his secret mistress, a florist's assistant, and although he does not love her marries Gerda, a Dutch heiress who is more interested in playing the violin and in consorting with aristocrats. After having spent time in Valparaiso, Christian returns to Lübeck but shows no interest in the firm, preferring to drink and haunt the theatre, especially the actress Aline. The patriarch Jean dies, and his widow Bethsy holds the family together. The divorced Tony catches the eye of Alois Permaneder, a cheerful Bavarian hop merchant who marries her and takes her off to his home in Munich. His fondness for drink and for the maid leads her to return shortly to Lübeck. She suggests to Thomas that he could expand the business by buying grain before harvest from the estates of Prussian aristocrats. He buys a whole crop that is than destroyed by hail, losing all his outlay and denting his reputation. Gerda at length gives birth to a son Hanno, who proves to be a gifted musician but has no interest in the family or the business. Thomas is elected a senator, like his father but, after the extraction of a troublesome tooth, collapses and dies. His will requires that the near-moribund firm be liquidated. Hanno dies in his teens and Gerda returns to the Netherlands. Tony and Christian, after selling the family home and contents, go their separate ways.

Cast

as Antonie "Tony" Buddenbrook *

as Thomas Buddenbrook * August Diehl as Christian Buddenbrook *

as Consul Johann "Jean" Buddenbrook *

as Elisabeth "Bethsy" Buddenbrook * as Gerda Buddenbrook * Alexander Fehling as Morten Schwarzkopf *

Justus von Dohnányi Justus von Dohnányi (born 2 December 1960) is a German actor, best known for portraying Wilhelm Burgdorf in 2004 film ''Der Untergang''. Life and career Born in Lübeck, von Dohnányi is the son of conductor Christoph von Dohnányi and actress ...

as Bendix Grünlich * as Alois Permaneder * Nina Proll as Aline Puvogel * as Hanno Buddenbrook * Sylvester Groth as Kesselmeyer *

Fedja van Huêt Fedja van Huêt (born 21 June 1973, in The Hague) is a Dutch stage and film actor. Van Huêt received his professional training at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was in the ensemble of the theater companies RO Theater and Theaterc ...

as Hermann Hagenström * as Julchen Möllendorpf *

Sunnyi Melles Sunnyi Melles (born 7 October 1958 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg) is a Hungarian / Swiss actress active in Germany and Austria. Biography She is the only daughter of Austrian orchestral conductor Carl Melles and Hungarian noblewoman Judith von R ...

as Mrs. Möllendorpf * as Senator Möllendorpf * as René Maria von Trotha * Maja Schöne as Anna Iwersen * Tonio Arango as Stefan Kistenmaker * as Doctor Giesecke *

André Hennicke André Hennicke (born 21 September 1958) is a German actor. He has appeared in more than one hundred films since 1984. Hennicke was born in Johanngeorgenstadt in Saxony. He was awarded a German television award for best actor for ''Something to ...

as Gosch * as Ida Jungmann * as Consul Lebrecht Kröger * Michael Abendroth as Doctor Grabow * as Kai von Mölln * as Diener Anton

Awards and nominations

Home media

''Buddenbrooks'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on 11 September 2009.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2008 films German drama films 2000s German-language films 2000s German television miniseries German epic films Films based on German novels Films based on works by Thomas Mann Films set in Germany Films set in the 1840s Films set in the 1850s Films set in the 1860s Films set in the 1870s Films shot in Germany Television shows based on German novels Warner Bros. films Films shot in Bruges Films shot in Cologne Films about businesspeople Films about families Remakes of German films German-language television shows 2000s German films