Eric Rohmer's film of "The Marquise of O..." remains faithful to Henrich Von Kleist's 1808 novella in odd ways: he has made the film in German, and followed the text closely, including many direct quotes. But, if he has maintained a strong sense of Kleist's pre-Kafkaesque absurdity and an austere, measured visual atmosphere, he has added a satiric note to the film that has led several reviewers to call it "a droll, sophisticated farce." Set in a town in Northern Italy during the Napoleonic Wars, the story involves a young widow and mother of two who is saved from a military rape by a courtly Russian officer. When she finds herself inexplicably, horrifyingly pregnant, she is rudely cast out by her parents despite her protestations of innocence. She attempts to resolve her dilemma by placing an ad in the local paper asking the father to step forward. He does, in the person of Bruno Ganz, and the courting begins.