Geliebte Clara

Geliebte Clara ("Beloved Clara") is a Franco-German-Hungarian 2008 film, directed by Helma Sanders-Brahms, her last film before her 2014 death, about the pianist Clara Schumann and her marriage with the composer Robert Schumann. Plot After a performance of Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor in Hamburg, where the couple get to know the young composer Johannes Brahms, Clara and Robert Schumann take up residence in their new home in Düsseldorf, where Robert begins his new job as musical director. The demands of composition of his new symphony, the Rhenish Symphony, leads to tension between him and Clara. A little later Brahms introduces a couple of his own compositions to the Schumanns and they are impressed by his compositional and pianistic skills. Allowing him to stay with them, Brahms lovingly cares for their children. Robert's work on the Rhenish Symphony continues to suffer, and he struggles with an addiction to the drug laudanum, on which he is soon dependent. There is further tension between him and his wife, who is expecting another child. Shortly after the successful premiere of the Rhenish Symphony, Schumann becomes acquainted with Dr. Richartz who offers him help with his health problems. Schumann sees the talented Brahms as his successor, but Brahms leaves the Schumann household when he realizes that he feels more than just friendship for Clara. Additionally the Schumanns are troubled with financial problems.