The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum

Based on true events and originally a novel, it is writer Heinrich Boll’s unblinking moral gaze on post-war German society that gives this film its narrative power. What it says about the power of a malign press to destroy the lives of innocents will have resonance in any contemporary society. Angela Winkler is heartbreakingly vulnerable as the lonely caterer who becomes the target of a press hate campaign after a brief assignation with a handsome terrorist during the Cologne Carnival. This chance meeting changes Katharina’s life as she becomes the most hated woman in Germany.

80% – Rotten Tomatoes
7.4/10 – IMDB

“Makes a very strong case against yellow journalism.”

“Katharina Blum is a fictional case within a lens of subjectivity that affords a clear contemporary resonance.”

Review: The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum – Roger Ebert

Essay: Honoring Katharina: The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum – Criterion