Preceded by-Broadway by Light (William Klein, 1957): "The Americans invented jazz to overcome their fear of death, the star to overcome their fear of women. To overcome their fear of the night, they invented Broadway"--Chris Marker. Technical advisor, Alain Resnais. (11 mins, No dialogue, Color, 35mm) (Der Fangschuss). Margarethe Von Trotta co-wrote and stars in Coup de Grâce (or Act of Mercy), a stylish adaptation of a novel by Marguerite Yourcenar that was a favorite of both Von Trotta and her husband Volker Schlöndorff. Schlöndorff interprets the novel in black and white, taking a stark if not ambivalent distance from an intricate, romantic tragedy (one which, according to an author's preface to the novel, is based on real characters and incidents). Set in the Baltic States amid the turmoil of the civil war following World War I and the Russian Revolution, the film tells of a love triangle played out against politics: "a tragic ballet made up of refusal, complicity, provocation and confrontation" (filmmakers' notes). Von Trotta portrays Sophie, a strong-willed woman whose unrequited love for her brother's best friend (and probable lover) comes to an ironic end. When Sophie is to be executed as a Red, she chooses her own executioner from among the White officers, turning desire into a deadly legacy.