À l’extrême bord du monde
Synopsis
- Reading time
- 4 min.
Read the full synopsis of À l’extrême bord du monde (At the Edge of the World) by Harold Noben, which recounts the last days of Lotte and Stefan Zweig, from their discussion in a café in Petropolis to their final departure, including their reflections on war, freedom, life and death...
ACT I
22 February 1942. Seated at a table in Café Elegante, Stefan Zweig and Lotte Altmann, his second wife, talk about how attached they have become to this place since their arrival in Petrópolis. They discuss their love for Brazil, their country of exile, but also an imminent new ‘departure’ and Stefan’s concern for his dog.
Lotte suggests postponing any decision for now, but Stefan has been feeling increasingly despondent since the start of the war. She encourages him to resume writing, but he doubts the legitimacy of his trade now that German, his mother tongue, has become the language of the executioners. She reminds him of his aesthetic ideal, which is that art has no other purpose than to unite people, but fails to convince him.
ACT II
Scene 1
Back home, alone on the veranda, Lotte recalls the moment she first met the famous writer. Not only did he save her, an exiled Jewish woman, from almost certain death, he also gave her life renewed meaning. She realizes how much she loves him and knows that for him she would go to the ends of the earth.
Scene 2
Alone in his room, Stefan faces his reflection in the mirror, something he usually avoids. He is confronted with the inevitability of old age. He thinks about his need for freedom, which led him into exile, but the idea of being cut off from his roots plunges him into a profound state of despair. Although he still loves Germany, he reproaches himself for never having explicitly condemned the crimes of the Nazi regime.
Scene 3
As Stefan writes a letter to Friderike, his first wife, Lotte enters the room. She is overwhelmed by a cruel feeling of betrayal and questions her love for a man for whom she is apparently nothing more than a support in his old age. Stefan curtly tells her not to give in to jealousy. Hurt by his aloofness and overcome with anxiety, Lotte suffers a violent asthma attack.
Scene 4
Now that he has taken the decision to end his life, Stefan is at ease. After drinking the veronal, he lies down on the bed. Lotte enters the room and finds him dying. She rebukes him for not having waited for her, as agreed. He replies that he wanted to give her another chance, then breathes his last. At a loss, and terrified at the thought of being alone, Lotte in turn takes the poison and lies down beside him, slowly slipping into eternal darkness.
