Synopsis
A love triangle forms between post-Enlightenment writer Friedrich Schiller and two sisters -- one who became his wife, and the other, his biographer.
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Cast
- Hannah HerzsprungCaroline von Lengefeld
- Florian StetterFriedrich Schiller
- Henriette ConfuriusCharlotte von Lengefeld
- Ronald ZehrfeldWolzogen
- Claudia MessnerMadame Lengefeld
- Maja MaranowMrs. von Stein
- Michael WittenbornKnebel
- Andreas PietschmannFriedrich von Beulwitz
- Anne SchäferCharlotte von Kalb
- Peter SchneiderChristian Gottfried Körner
Recommendations
- 91
The A.V. Club
The result is immersive and intelligent, but not what one would call difficult. Graf’s knack for no-nonsense storytelling means that Beloved Sisters seems to fly past. - 90
Variety
An enthralling, gorgeously mounted depiction of the complicated relationship between the post-Enlightenment writer and philosopher Friedrich Schiller and the sisters Charlotte von Lengefeld (who would become his wife) and Caroline von Beulwitz (his eventual biographer). - 80
Village Voice
Although there's nothing sensationalistic about his approach, [Graf] treats the characters' tentative, often problematic bohemianism as a wild, brave, and precious thing, and the lead actors — restrained where it counts and bold where it matters — are a pleasure to watch. - 75
New York Post
This film loves its characters, but loves their ideals even more. - 75
RogerEbert.com
A very nearly epic romance, one that approaches the idea of a ménage-a-trois as emblematic of a particular idealism on the part of its participants rather than a hotsy-totsy taboo-busting arrangement. - 63
Slant Magazine
It blossoms into a breezily utopian depiction of a ménage á trois whose entirely matter-of-fact presentation sets up an intriguing dissonance with the prim period setting. - 63
Movie Nation
Never works up a romantic head of steam, never captures the frisson and ferment of a tumultuous age. And, thanks to the flat depiction of Schiller, Beloved Sisters never overcomes the feeling that it’s a lecture, with a little rough and ready German sex tossed in, here and there, to wake up the class. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
[A] handsomely produced if occasionally rather old-fashioned feeling period drama, which plays like a soap opera in which the characters just happen to have better manners and finery.
