ADLON, Percy On ADLoN: articles Nationality: German. Born: Munich, I June 1935; great-grandson of Walker, B,"" Percy Adlon, ' in Film Comment(New York), July- August 1988. history, litcrature, and theater, with a degree in acting. in Munich. Bouijut, M. " The Film Career of Percy Adlon. "in Arant-scene du Family: Married Eleonore, a frequent collaborator on his films: son Cinema. November-December 1988 Felix. film writer-director. Career: Created documentaries for Bayerischer Rundfunk(Bavarian Broadcasting), 1970-1984; directed On ADLON: films- is first feature film. celeste. 1981. Awards: Bavarian Film award (Germany)for Best Director, for Fiinf letzte Tage, 1983: Berlin Film Die Schonheit im Normalen finden: Die inneren Bilder des Percy ritics Ernst Lubitsch Award for Best Comedy, 1987, Bavarian Film don. Bavarian Television. 1993 Award for Best Screenplay, 1988, and Cesars(france) for Best European Film and Best Foreign Film, 1989, all for Out of Rosenheim Bavarian Film Award for Best Director. for Salmonberries. 1992. Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Films(Belgium) Silver Roughly a decade older than his more renowned compatriots in the Raven for Younger and Younger, 1994 German New Cinema, Percy Adlon began making feature films more than a decade after the remarkable early works of Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. If ultimately he has Films as director: created a body of work more conventional than those of his younger contemporaries, he has still achieved a handful of works which 1978 Der Vormund und sein Dichter(The Guardian and the remain important and distinctive, particularly for their mixture of cool Poet)(for TV) ompassion Io 1979 Herr Kischottfor TV) 980 Celeste (+ sc) Following a long career in Bavarian television, largely in docu 1981 Finf letzte Tage(Five Last Days)(+ sc) mentary work, Adlon received immediate international notice with 1982 Die Schaukel(The Swing)(+ sc) Celeste, his first feature. Based upon a memoir by Marcel Proust's 1983 Zuckerbaby (Sugarbaby)(+sc) maidservant, the film patiently records the title characters daily activities, or more frequently her stasis, as she sits waiting for 1984 Herschel und die Musik der Stene(Herschel and the Music of Monsieur to ring for his daily coffee-or for help if seized by an 1987 Out of Rosenheim(Bagdad Cafe)(+ co-sc, pr) asthma attack. The film is a kind of study in restraint-not onl 1988 Rosalie Goes Shopping (+ sc, pr) Celestes but the filmmakers, as he seeks visual and emotional 1989 Salmonberries(+ sc) variety within a restricted environment. Most of the drama is set in 1988 Younger and Younger (+ co-Sc, co-pr) Proust's apartment, but there are occasionally montages(handsomely 1989 In der glanzvollen Welt des Hotel Adlon(The Glamorous composed shots, empty of people) of elegant apartment facades in World of the Adlon Hotel; Hotel Adlon)(for TV)(+ sc) Paris, or the writers vacation beach in Normandy, or bleak, wintry 1999 Die Strausskiste(Forever Flirt)(+ sc) vistas in Celeste's native village. Occasionally Celeste(Eva Mattes) addresses the camera directly; at other times her filashback-memories of a livelier, party-going Proust (Jurgen Arndt) weave in and out of Other Films the more somber present time of the narrative. Fragmented bursts of francks String Quartet punctuate silences otherwise broken only by 1997 Eat Your Heart Out(Felix Adlon)(pr) a clock ticking or an occasional cough from the masters cork-line bedroom; the music unexpectedly becomes live when a string quartet performs (still in fragments of music) privately for Proust and Publications Celeste By ADLoN: articles- but Adlon often explores devotion--not without ironic perspective or quirky humor, but never with the derision of more cynical filmmakers Dialogue on Film: Percy Adlon, "interview in American Film(Los Celeste, for example, is devoted but not remotely doglike or patheti- Angeles), May 1988 cally spinsterish. She appears to have a satisfactory relationship with Stone, Judy, ""Percy Adlon, interview in Eye on the World: Conver- her husband. Proust's rant: and she is not obsequious, as sations with International Filmmakers, Los Angeles. 1997 Adlon establishes in an early flashback when, as a new servant, she1 ADLON, Percy A Nationality: German. Born: Munich, 1 June 1935; great-grandson of founder of the famed Hotel Adlon, Berlin. Education: Studied art history, literature, and theater, with a degree in acting, in Munich. Family: Married Eleonore, a frequent collaborator on his films; son: Felix, film writer-director. Career: Created documentaries for Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian Broadcasting), 1970–1984; directed his first feature film, Céleste, 1981. Awards: Bavarian Film Award (Germany) for Best Director, for Fünf letzte Tage, 1983; Berlin Film Critics Ernst Lubitsch Award for Best Comedy, 1987, Bavarian Film Award for Best Screenplay, 1988, and Césars (France) for Best European Film and Best Foreign Film, 1989, all for Out of Rosenheim; Bavarian Film Award for Best Director, for Salmonberries, 1992; Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Films (Belgium) Silver Raven for Younger and Younger, 1994. Films as Director: 1978 Der Vormund und sein Dichter (The Guardian and the Poet) (for TV) 1979 Herr Kischott (for TV) 1980 Celeste (+ sc) 1981 Fünf letzte Tage (Five Last Days) (+ sc) 1982 Die Schaukel (The Swing) (+ sc) 1983 Zuckerbaby (Sugarbaby) (+sc) 1984 Herschel und die Musik der Sterne (Herschel and the Music of the Stars) (for TV) (+ sc) 1987 Out of Rosenheim (Bagdad Café) (+ co-sc, pr) 1988 Rosalie Goes Shopping (+ sc, pr) 1989 Salmonberries (+ sc) 1988 Younger and Younger (+ co-sc, co-pr) 1989 In der glanzvollen Welt des Hotel Adlon (The Glamorous World of the Adlon Hotel; Hotel Adlon) (for TV) (+ sc) 1999 Die Strausskiste (Forever Flirt) (+ sc) Other Films: 1997 Eat Your Heart Out (Felix Adlon) (pr) Publications By ADLON: articles— ‘‘Dialogue on Film: Percy Adlon,’’ interview in American Film (Los Angeles), May 1988. Stone, Judy, ‘‘Percy Adlon,’’ interview in Eye on the World: Conver￾sations with International Filmmakers, Los Angeles, 1997. On ADLON: articles— Walker, B., ‘‘Percy Adlon,’’ in Film Comment (New York), July￾August 1988. Boujut, M. ‘‘The Film Career of Percy Adlon,’’ in Avant-scène du Cinema, November-December 1988. On ADLON: films— Die Schonheit im Normalen finden: Die inneren Bilder des Percy Adlon, Bavarian Television, 1993. *** Roughly a decade older than his more renowned compatriots in the German New Cinema, Percy Adlon began making feature films more than a decade after the remarkable early works of Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. If ultimately he has created a body of work more conventional than those of his younger contemporaries, he has still achieved a handful of works which remain important and distinctive, particularly for their mixture of cool detachment and genuine compassion for lonely eccentrics. Following a long career in Bavarian television, largely in docu￾mentary work, Adlon received immediate international notice with Céleste, his first feature. Based upon a memoir by Marcel Proust’s maidservant, the film patiently records the title character’s daily activities, or more frequently her stasis, as she sits waiting for Monsieur to ring for his daily coffee—or for help if seized by an asthma attack. The film is a kind of study in restraint—not only Céleste’s but the filmmaker’s, as he seeks visual and emotional variety within a restricted environment. Most of the drama is set in Proust’s apartment, but there are occasionally montages (handsomely composed shots, empty of people) of elegant apartment facades in Paris, or the writer’s vacation beach in Normandy, or bleak, wintry vistas in Céleste’s native village. Occasionally Céleste (Eva Mattes) addresses the camera directly; at other times her flashback-memories of a livelier, party-going Proust (Jurgen Arndt) weave in and out of the more somber present time of the narrative. Fragmented bursts of Franck’s String Quartet punctuate silences otherwise broken only by a clock ticking or an occasional cough from the master’s cork-lined bedroom; the music unexpectedly becomes live when a string quartet performs (still in fragments of music) privately for Proust and Céleste. Obsession is a common-enough preoccupation of modernist film, but Adlon often explores devotion—not without ironic perspective or quirky humor, but never with the derision of more cynical filmmakers. Céleste, for example, is devoted but not remotely doglike or patheti￾cally spinsterish. She appears to have a satisfactory relationship with her husband, Proust’s manservant; and she is not obsequious, as Adlon establishes in an early flashback when, as a new servant, she