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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 940

Nerves

1919110 minGermany
Drama

Synopsis

An industrialist, his sister and a reform-minded teacher respond differently to a society shaken by war. Private desire becomes entangled with public demands for change, while accusation and guilt push the characters toward increasingly destructive decisions. Their intersecting crises present social upheaval through minds that can no longer separate immediate experience from fear and obsession.

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Video edition
Wikimedia Commons
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: German.
This copy runs
109:50
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: German. No subtitle track in this language.

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · Robert Reinert · Public domain

Cast

DirectorsRobert Reinert

Historical context

Reinert presents the aftermath of the First World War as a collective nervous crisis. The film's exaggerated emotional world links personal instability to industrial violence, political conflict and the breakdown of confidence in progress.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceWikidata — film identity and credits

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.

Availability checked on September 12, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

  • Eduard von Winterstein — Friedrich Gahlbeck; This image was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv) as part of a cooperation project . The German Federal Archive guarantees an authentic representation only using the originals (negative and/or positive), resp. the digitalization of the originals as provided by the Digital Image Archive . · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
  • Lia Borré — Wilhelm Willinger; Flickr · Public domain
  • Erna Morena — Alexander Binder; https://www.flickr.com/photos/truusbobjantoo/4797957893/ · Public domain

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