The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975) [The Criterion Collection]

Directors: Volker Schlöndorff, Margarethe von Trotta
Writers: Heinrich Böll (novel), Volker Schlöndorff (screenplay)
Stars: Angela Winkler, Mario Adorf, Dieter Laser

When Katharina Blum spends the night with an alleged terrorist, her quiet, ordered life falls into ruins. Suddenly a suspect, Katharina is subject to a vicious smear campaign by the police and a ruthless tabloid journalist, testing the limits of her dignity and her sanity. Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta’s powerful adaptation of Heinrich Böll’s novel is a stinging commentary on state power, individual freedom, and media manipulation––as relevant today as on the day of its release in 1975.

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