Romy Schneider about Alice Schwarzer: »We are the two women most insulted in Germany.«
On the occasion of Romy Schneider’s 70th birthday on 23rd September 2008, there will be a great number of publications and documentaries and many of her films will be shown again on TV. But irreplaceable and unforgotten is Alice Schwarzer’s biographical book, »Romy Schneider, myth and life«, which was published 10 years ago and is now available in a paperback edition. Up to today, this book sold 100.000 times in Germany.
Alice Schwarzer and Romy Schneider did not only have the love for France in common but also their rebellion against traditional female gender roles. During her whole life, Romy Schneider tried to break out from the clichés which had been imposed on her: the »cute virgin« Sissi, the sinful traitress to the fatherland with Delon, the »repentant mother« in Germany…
It was not by coincidence that Alice Schwarzer chose this third German world star – after Marlene Dietrich and Hildegard Knef – for a portrait in the first volume of EMMA. And only 16 years after Romy’s death which was infinitely exploited by the media she again started to follow her traces. No biography has ever come as close to Rosemarie Albach Retty alias Romy Schneider as this one.
