Vildanden / The Wild Duck / Die Wildente

Henrik Ibsen’s drama is about a bourgeois family living with a web of lies. The Ekdal family’s superficially happy domestic life comes to an abrupt end when familial certainties are called into question. Paterfamilias Hjalmar considers himself a brilliant inventor, although he has never actually invented anything. He receives financial support from former consul Werle, who once had an affair with Hjalmar’s wife, Gina. It is entirely possible that the Ekdal’s 14-year-old daughter Hedvig is the product of that union … Tancred Ibsen brought his grandfather’s play to the big screen with very few changes. At the time the film was made, the Ibsen community declared itself fully satisfied with his adaptation of the original text. And to this very day "Vildanden" is considered a paradigm of a faithful stage to screen adaptation. In 1895 (at 20!), Thomas Mann played the role of the elder Werle "in furs and specs" in the German premiere of the play at Munich’s theatre academy. He "warmly endorsed" the selection of the play.