Overview
At the battle of Solferino Joseph von Trotta, a lieutenant in the Slovenian infantry, is wounded while saving the life of the young Austrian Emperor Franz-Joseph I. The Emperor rewards him by elevating him in society to a position quite out of keeping with his social rank, and which entirely alienates him from his farming background: Joseph gets promoted to the rank of captain, and is made a member of the nobility. Years later Joseph von Trotta accidentally finds a description of the battle that changed his life in a text-book belonging to his son Franz. Enraged at the over-emotional, patriotic and sentimental way in which the Emperor's rescue at the hands of "the Hero of Solferino" is depicted, he lodges a complaint at the Imperial Court.
Cast
- Max von Sydow as Baron Franz von Trotta und Sipolje
- Tilman Günther as Baron Trotta von Sipolje
- Charlotte Rampling as Valérie von Taussig
- Claude Rich as Dr. Demant
- Jean-Louis Richard as Kapturak
- Julia Stemberger as Eva Demant
- Gert Voss as Graf Chojnicki
- Friedrich von Thun as Rittmeister Taittinger
- Ernst Stankovski as Kapellmeister Nechval
- Michael Schönborn as Tattenbach