Once upon a time, a widow had two daughters: the lazy and wicked Blackmarie, her own beloved child, and the hardworking and kind Blondmarie, her despised stepdaughter. One day, Blondmarie—who was made to do all the housework—drops her spindle into the well, which had become stained with blood. When she leaps in after it, she finds herself in Mother Hulda’s otherworldly realm. There, Blondmarie diligently shakes out the old woman’s bedding, making it snow all over the world, and helps her with the housework. As a reward, Mother Hulda showers her with gold. Envious of her stepsister’s newfound wealth, Blackmarie then jumps into the well and enters Mother Hulda’s service. But laziness has its just reward! A short film produced by Ullstein AV for distribution through the Foto-Quelle catalog of the period, based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

1974 film by Walter Boos

This is the debut feature fillm by german director Roland Klick who made classics like SUPERMARKET and DEADLOCK. In this debut Roland Klick is searching for the heart and ache of german society in portraying a middle class family in the 60's living in a suburbal area who are confronted with a crime which they don't understand. What comes to surface is a disability to be emotionally able to handle it so the family tries to hide it from society. Before Haneke (in his latest film "the White Ribbon" some 40 years later) there was already somebody using the power of cinematic experience to express a feeling about german people and german society which is far from any psychological mumbojumbo that fails in answering questions like: why is there violence in general? why did all those horrible things in germany during WWII happen? "Buebchen" doesn't try to fool us with explanations because violence is something that comes from a place that can't be desribed with words - it overcomes you. While recently Haneke was trying to fool us with possible reasons for the horrors of WWII this little piece here by Roland Klick brings the viewer closer to the topic by leaving the reasons out - this is a film about the consequences. ------------------------------------ Synopsis In a german suburb a babysitter is too busy with her own teenage business and leaves a boy with his little sister alone. Then the girl is missing. The only way the family and society are able to deal with the horror is to ignore it and hide the truth in the closet. A sharp study of german middle class society in the late 60s.