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Hans Geissendörfer’s Psychological Noir: West-German Adaptations of Patricia Highsmith Novels

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Patricia Highsmith on Screen

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture ((PSADVC))

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Abstract

This chapter argues that Hans Geissendörfer’s films Die gläserne Zelle (1978) and Ediths Tagebuch (1983), adaptations of the Patricia Highsmith novels The Glass Cell (1964) and Edith’s Diary (1977), constitute postmodernist neo-noir typical of New German Cinema. Geissendörfer’s approach to noir consists of psychological and social motifs echoed by aesthetic and editorial decisions such as lighting and shadows, and especially voice-overs to approximate the private thoughts of characters. Geissendörfer transfers much of Highsmith’s institutional criticism to a subtler criticism of the everyday politics of social structures including the family. He maintains Highsmith’s Kafkaesque thematics of exile and imprisonment within the family homestead, and at the same time, transfers Highsmith’s plots to specifically German settings, contexts, and unfoldings, including Freudian undertones.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Erin Altman & William Mahan

Authors
  1. Erin Altman
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  2. William Mahan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erin Altman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Wieland Schwanebeck

  2. Flagler College, St. Augustine, FL, USA

    Douglas McFarland

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Altman, E., Mahan, W. (2018). Hans Geissendörfer’s Psychological Noir: West-German Adaptations of Patricia Highsmith Novels. In: Schwanebeck, W., McFarland, D. (eds) Patricia Highsmith on Screen. Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96050-0_12

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