Fireworks Logo

Trailers...

  • Blue Film
  • Distant Call (A)
  • Ngwato
  • Saved by the Beauty of the World
  • Children of Silver Street Take a Stand (The)
  • Arctic Link
  • Divine Hammer
  • Woman Who Poked the Leopard (The)
  • Dinner (The)
  • Baracoa
  • Blue Boy Trial
  • Uncle Roy
  • Patty Is Such a Girly Name
  • 3 Atos de Moisés
  • Deadloch
  • Ballroom, danser pour exister
  • Bigfoot Woods
  • Beauty and the Beat
  • Mickey
  • At the Place of Ghosts
  • Divine Tragedy (The)
  • Man Walks Down the Street (A)
  • Stop! That! Train!
  • Rosebush Pruning
  • Summer Lost
  • House Was Not Hungry Then (The)
  • Outcome
  • Island Away From You (An)
  • Customer Journey
  • Thirteen Buttons to Heaven
  • Freddie: I Want it All
  • Hunting Wives (The)
  • I Love LA
  • Long Story Short
  • Consequences of Monsters (The)
  • Open Endings
  • Son of Sara: Volume 1
  • Male Gaze: Wild Youth (The)
  • Testament of Ann Lee (The)
  • Vladimir

Coup de Grâce

Country: West Germany | France, Language: German, 97 mins

Original Title

Der Fangschuss
  • Director: Volker Schlöndorff
  • Writer: Marguerite Yourcenar; Jutta Brückner
  • Producer: Anatole Dauman; Eberhard Junkersdorf

CGiii Comment

With due respect to the book, this is an utter failure - made watchable only by some fine photography.

The ridiculously played eccentric aunt is an acting travesty.

The key components to the story...the sexual and political charge - are non-existent.

The book is riveting, the film is dull and miscast.


Trailer...

The(ir) Blurb...

A countess' unrequited love for an army officer leads to disaster.

Cast & Characters

Margarethe von Trotta as Sophie de Reval;
Matthias Habich as Erich von Lhomond;
Rudiger Kirschstein as Conrad de Reval;
Marc Eyraud as Doctor Paul Rugen;
Bruno Thost as Chopin;
Frederik von Zichy as Franz von Aland;
Valeska Gert as Aunt Praskovia;
Mathieu Carriere as Volkmar von Plessen;
Maria Guttenbrunner as Loews Mutter;
Hannes Kaetner as Michel;
Karl-Heinz Merz as Extra;
Franz Morak as Grigori Loew;
Stephan Paryla as Unteroffizier;
Henry van Lyck as Borschikoff;
Alexander von Eschwege as Blankenburg