Standesgemäss

The film portrays three single aristocratic women caught between traditional expectations and everyday life, between stately home and prefabricated housing estate, torn between the assumptions of their parents, which they can no longer fulfill, and their own internalized aspirations.

If they wish to remain part of the aristocracy, they will need to marry an aristocratic man or remain single – for within the aristocracy, the ‘patrilineal principle’ applies.

Countess Alexandra von Bredow once lived a wild life filled with lavish balls. Today, she lives in a one-room flat and makes a living by producing pearl necklaces. At the age of 48, after depression and many setbacks, she finally finds true love.

Baroness Alexandra von Beaulieu Marconnay, oboist and teacher, enjoys a close relationship with her mother following her father’s death. When she moves to a new city, her aristocratic connections help her to settle in. However, she finds it difficult to step out of her mother’s shadow and that of her influential ancestors.

Verena von Zerboni di Sposetti enjoyed an elite education at a girls’ boarding school and studied law. By deciding to give up her career as a lawyer and do something completely different, she catapults herself out of aristocratic society and faces a complete reorientation.

A film about three outsiders and the bizarre microcosm of the German aristocracy.