The blue light

A favourite future filmmaker of Nazi propaganda, German director Leni Riefenstahl shot a mystical, romantic and ultimately tragic drama, Das Blaue Licht, in 1932, which she wrote and directed with Hungarian Béla Balázs and Austrian Carl Mayer. The story is based on an old German legend, a tale by the Brothers Grimm, and a short story written in 1930 by the Swiss Gustav Renker, Bergkristall. However, Leni Riefenstahl has always denied that she was inspired by the latter work. Played by the director herself, Junta, a wild, simple, innocent and somewhat mystical Italian woman, lives far from the village and on the fringes of society with Vigo, a shepherd (Mathias Wieman). She is the only person able to climb the nearby mountains and reach a cave on Monte Cristallo from which a mysterious blue light shines during the full moon. Junta is hated by the villagers who suspect her of being a witch, especially the women, as several young men in the village have died trying to reach the blue light. Tonio, a painter, discovers Junta's existence and her passion for the blue light, produced by crystals in a cave. Tonio betrays her by revealing the route of the cave to the inhabitants. The cave is soon stripped of its crystals and, in desperation, Junta commits suicide. Shot in Italy in Sarentino, Brenta and Foroglio in Ticino, this expressionist-inspired film offers some of the most evocative shots of the region.

Frédéric Maire, Director Cinémathèque Suisse