This is a basically simple story capturing a period of time in "high society" life one hundred years ago in Austria. It was a simpler time, when people enjoyed reading books, cars were amazing big machines, and most people traveled about in horse and carriage. The principal characters are the Baron, the veteran actor Klaus Maria Brandauer, the mother, Faye Dunaway and playing the 12 year old son, David Eberts. To me, almost every scene in this film is like a post card or a beautiful painting. The atmosphere of Austria in winter; the wonderful old hotel and spa. The beautiful music by Hans Zimmer also added to the mood of the film. Faye Dunaway was literally breath taking. When she walked into the Hotel lobby every head was turned to watch her. I expect that was not acting, but a natural reaction by everyone there, to a beautiful woman coming into their presence. Handsome young actor David Eberts was perfect in the role of Edmund. The director, Andrew Birkin, wisely uses many extreme close ups of David's face and the kids' big brown eyes. Edmund was a lonely boy looking for a friend to "hang out" with, or a surrogate for his father who apparently didn't have much time for him. The mysterious Baron filled the role, taking an interest in this wonderful boy while all the time noticing how beautiful his mother was. All of the characters of the story, like everyone else in life, have their own emotional or physical problems to deal with. The Baron would tell stories to Edmund, and the boy was totally mesmerized by everything the Baron said. Again, the close-up shots of Edmund capture that intense attention he was giving the storyteller. As the Baron drew closer to Sonya, the mother, Edmund began to change, and was hurt and feeling betrayed by "his" new friend. In a key scene, Sonya said to the Baron "Edmund will go away from me, not because of you, or me, or even because he wants to, but because he must." One of the stories the Baron told Edmund was "Erl König", the Elf-King, by Goethe. In the end, a father holding his son, realizes the "kind war tot", the child was dead! The child Edmund was now becoming less dependent on his mother, and in fact as with the actor David Eberts, was growing away from childhood. The child was dead.
