Solo Sunny Analysis

The Legend of Paul and Paula and Solo Sunny were both very popular films in

DEFA history, but in a way, feel quite different from each other. The Legend of Paul and

Paula, even with occasional dark moments, feels like an upbeat film overall. It is a film

where an extraordinary relationship was made between two normal people. In Solo

Sunny, the film has a depressing tone and seems, at least on the surface, to focus on

someone special: a singer. In what ways were these two films different and similar; and

why were both films successful?

Both of these films have a major thematic similarity in the idea of loneliness, but

they deal with them in different ways. Paul and Paula find a solution to their loneliness

in their love for

This is one of the ways the two films are quite different; the

former is grand and dramatic, like when Paul used an axe to break down Paula’s door

to reach her; and the latter is more “realistic” in that we are expecting Ralph to show up

again like Paul, but instead he just completely disappears in the film uneventfully. There

is no closure to that plot line like we normally expect from a fictional story. The Legend

of Paul and Paula feels more like a romantic loneliness, while Solo Sunny feels like a more general loneliness. In The Legend of Paul and Paula, Paula is shown to be have

some happiness outside of her relationship with Paul; this is best shown when she is

working in the store and starts singing, causing a crowd of people to sing with her. She

also has children that she obviously cares for. But despite this, Paula still makes finding

a man very important to her. In Solo Sunny, Sunny has lots of small relationships as she

has friends, but not friends that are close to her, as shown by her friend saying that she

did not actually know much about Sunny, from sleeping around, such as with Ralph,

who did not seem to really care for her as he also slept with another woman, and