Leni Riefenstahl: A Life

by Jürgen Trimborn

Book Overview

Dancer, actress, mountaineer, and director Leni Riefenstahl's uncompromising will and audacious talent for self-promotion appeared unmatched--until 1932, when she introduced herself to her future... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374184933
• ISBN13: 9780374184933
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 351 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A Very Good Book

I have seen her movies and read a lot about Leni Riefenstahl. This is the first book that cuts through her lies, half-truths, and evasions that were seemingly always a part of her life. Finally the truth is told in a fair, balanced way. Great detail. A very good book.

The most balanced of all Riefenstahl Biographys

I'm fascinated with the artist & person of Leni Riefenstahl and feel that this work may be the most balanced account of her life available in print. Trimborn's top-notch research and constant juxtaposition of her intertwined personal and professional lives makes for not only compelling reading but an insightful look into the "wonderful, horrible life" of this famous figure. While it is certainly true that Riefenstahl's longevity transformed her from a figure of controvery to a "cultural monument," the author doesn't allow that fact to let her off the hook. He acknowledges her charm as fairly as he does her complicity, which may leave readers with more questions than answers. There is no doubt that Leni Riefenstahl was a talented enigma and dynamic personality and Trimborn examines all those facets throughout her past & present infamy. My only regret is that the book ended abruptly and it would have been interesting to learn more of her final days and subsequent business legacy with Leni Riefenstahl Productions. The notes and Bibliography are excellently compiled.

Talent and Total Ambition in the Third Reich

The title suggests this is about the life of Leni Riefenstahl, but in the greater part of the text, Trimborn describes her relationship with Hitler and Reich and her subsequent denials. He shows how her protestations that she was innocent because she was an apolitical artist cannot stand up to the eye witness accounts, official testimony, and photographic records that link her to Hitler's inner circles. Whether or not she was a mistress of Hitler, Trimborn clearly documents her close association with him. She obviously had high up patronage to receive seemingly unlimited production funds and the life and death power over others. In her abusive patriarchic family, Leni is given no support for the talent she undoubtedly has. She desperately strives for approval from a frightfully violent father. Her unhappy romantic life can be predicted as can her search for a strong male figure. Her beauty, exposure as an actress and a chance "fan" letter give her access to Hitler at the time she is beginning to make her own films. From her family background she is psychologically programmed to overcome and achieve and Hitler sees that she can deliver what he needs. Germany's defeat creates for Leni one of the sharpest career drops ever, after which she managed a second career that spanned over 50 years. It was not as glamorous and well funded as her first career and the honors she received were always tainted by protest. How do we assess achievement in the dubious art of propaganda? Is the artist responsible for evil that the creation may inspire? Can artists be absolved for denying belief in, commitment to, or lack of understanding of the content they create? Should those who have had limited access to success (i.e. women, minorities) be given greater laditude in assessing their path to success? This book has plenty of food for thought.

An Illuminating If Rather Dry Look at Riefenstahl's Accountability in the Nazi Cause

The infamous filmmaker of the Third Reich, Leni Riefenstahl, continues to fascinate even after her death at age 101 in 2003, as this biography by German film historian Jürgen Trimborn is one of two coming out this spring documenting her controversial life and career. Trimborn has the advantage of having conducted several interviews with Riefenstahl over the latter part of her career and consequently provides an intriguing perspective on a woman who was preoccupied with sustaining her image as a purely artistic and objective observer of the world around her, including Hitler's encroaching regime. Trimborn dismantles many of her the myths that Riefenstahl took pains to develop over her lifetime, most surprisingly how she allegedly pursued Hitler aggressively after meeting him in May 1932. A supreme opportunist, Riefenstahl carved her role as the Third Reich's propagandist with the specific intent of encouraging the unabated spread of Fascism to bolster her career. Her legendary vitality was clear from the outset, beginning as an interpretive dancer and then an actress in a series of mountaineering films popular in the Weimar at the time. She turned her attentions behind the camera, which culminated into her two masterful documentaries - `"Triumph of the Will" about the 1934 Nuremberg rallies and "Olympia" about the 1936 Berlin Olympics. While the ethical nature of Riefenstahl's participation in the Nazi cause does not diminish her great talent, Trimborn conversely shows the reverse to be true as well, as he concludes without hesitation what a world-class liar she was. Her latent anti-Semitism and awareness of the ongoing genocide are well documented here as an intrinsic part of her self-delusion regarding the atrocities committed for the sake of maintaining Aryan supremacy. After Germany's defeat in WWII, the author effectively shows a woman with a heightened need for self-exoneration, filing over fifty lawsuits to clear her name of any wrongdoing. There is no doubt that Riefenstahl was had a survival instinct as she reinvented herself later as a nature photographer studying the Nuba tribes in Sudan in the 1970's and at age 100, publishing a photo book of undersea life made possible by her adept scuba diving skills. Although he can write a bit more clinically than his dimensional subject warrants, Trimborn provides an illuminating portrait of a vastly prodigious creator whose dedication to her own legacy blinded her to the human toll over which she had indirect accountability.