The Plague in Florence (1919)
The Plague in Florence (German: Pest in Florenz)[a] is a 1919 German silent historical film directed by Otto Rippert. The screenplay was written by Fritz Lang. It stars Marga von Kierska, Theodor Becker, Karl Bernhard and Julietta Brandt.
The film is a tragic romance set in Florence in 1348, just before the first outbreaks in Italy of the Black Death, which then spread out across the entire continent.
Lang's screenplay was based on the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Masque of the Red Death", but he heightened the story's sexual tension by making the plague the result of the actions of a young seductress.
The Plague of Florence - Wikipedia Pest in Florenz (1919) - IMDb 6'5
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Die Pest in Florenz (1919, rus_sub+eng_sub)
1. The Arrival of Julia — The Spark of Disorder
Julia, a wealthy courtesan of extraordinary beauty, enters Florence. Her presence immediately unsettles the city’s moral authorities. A cardinal fears her influence and orders an inquiry into her beliefs. Meanwhile, both Cesare, Florence’s ruler, and Lorenzo, his son, fall violently in love with her. This triangle is the seed of the city’s unraveling.
2. The Rivalry — Father and Son Consumed
Lorenzo and Julia begin a passionate relationship built on shared ideals of pleasure and freedom. Cesare, unable to possess her, conspires with the Church to seize her. Julia becomes a symbol of forbidden desire, and Florence’s political order fractures as father and son drift toward inevitable violence.
3. The Kidnapping — The City Turns Against Itself
Cesare kidnaps Julia with clerical support, intending to “purify” the city by torturing her. Lorenzo, adored by the townspeople who see Julia as a liberating force, leads a mob to storm the palace. In the chaos, Lorenzo kills his own father, an act that marks the moral point of no return for Florence.
4. The Triumph of Lust — Florence Abandons Restraint
With Cesare dead, Lorenzo and Julia preside over a city that descends into ecstatic excess. Churches become dens of erotic revelry; civic order dissolves. The film frames this not as liberation but as a spiritual vacuum — Florence becomes a playground of appetite with no moral center.
5. Medardus Appears — The Warning No One Hears
Medardus, a hermit and religious zealot, arrives to condemn the city’s decadence. His warnings are ignored, but Julia is disturbed by his words. Pregnant and increasingly disillusioned with Lorenzo, she seeks Medardus in his cave. He tries to convert her, but her presence overwhelms him; he nearly kisses her, then recoils in horror at his own weakness.
6. The Collapse — Murder, Betrayal, and Moral Rot
Medardus destroys his wooden cross in despair and returns to Florence. He finds Lorenzo attempting to force himself on Julia. A fight erupts; Medardus kills Lorenzo. Julia, now bound to Medardus, becomes the center of a new, darker union. The city’s buildings — once symbols of Renaissance beauty — are transformed into grotesque spaces of vice.
7. Death Arrives — The Plague as Judgment
As Florence reaches peak corruption, Death itself enters the city, unleashing the plague. The film, drawing from Poe’
SOURCE: charnel-grounds Jun 22, 2025
Pest in Florenz | 1919 | dir. Otto Rippert
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