Sheer Madness
1983 · 105 MIN · IMDB 6.6 · 318 VOTES · DIR. Margarethe von Trotta
Overview
Olga and Ruth become friends. Olga is independent, separated from her husband, living with an immigrant pianist, and teaching feminist literature. Ruth is withdrawn, a painter, possibly mentally ill. Ruth dreams in black and white, sometimes of her suicide. Olga lectures on a 19th-century writer, von Günderrode, a suicide after the breakup of her intense friendship with Bettina Brentano. Ruth's husband Franz encourages the women's friendship, then, as Olga draws Ruth out and the friendship deepens, he becomes jealous. After the women travel to Egypt, Franz has a tirade. Ruth seems crushed between her husband and her friend, and how she responds is the film's climax.
Dialogue Timeline — 797 lines
A SAMPLE ACROSS THE RUNTIME — EVERY LINE IS SEARCHABLE
00:00:01 SHEER MADNESS
00:04:06 - Is your house very full? - It's a bit like a youth hostel.
00:08:56 Isn't it boring, always seeing the sea?
00:11:02 The washing's on the ground.
00:16:21 similarly educated, similarly restless, similarly in revolt.
00:20:46 A friendship with you will do her good.
00:24:42 The ticking of the death watch in our breast is slow...
00:27:58 Fear, generally speaking, is unhealthy.
00:32:47 I have to write about my old school for the annual reunion.
00:36:05 So he's still living off you.
00:39:53 For a long time I couldn't believe he was dead.
00:43:42 It's true, I say much the same thing. You'd find it boring, too.
00:48:03 Much higher.
00:51:37 Not particularly.
00:55:56 She might do the same this time.
01:01:04 I keep thinking about that tiresome person.
01:04:51 - You're doing marvelously. - I couldn't, if you weren't here.
01:10:30 "She has treated me badly, run away, when I wanted to share all delights."
01:16:53 - You've sworn it. - Yes, Christof.
01:21:45 "that a woman by herself is nothing."
01:27:41 What starts to happen?
01:30:34 I can't stay any longer.
01:32:22 I'm sick of your supercilious, affected, intellectual sensitivity.
01:38:00 My friend.