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The costume drama Die Marquise von O is French director Eric Rohmer's first feature-length theatrical release after a four-year break from filmmaking. Based on a novella by Henrich von Kleist, the dialogue is spoken in the original German language and the story is set in Italy during the 18th century. Edith Clever plays the widowed Marquise, who is sexually assaulted by Russian soldiers and rescued by a Count (Bruno Ganz). Some time later, she has to explain to her parents (Peter Lühr and Edda Seippel) and brother (Otto Sander) why she's pregnant. Die Marquise von O won the Grand Jury Prize in the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. At least one of the home video releases and several capsule reviews erroneously state the film (and its parent novella) as unfolding during the Franco-Prussian wars, but both are actually set during the Napoleonic Wars, hence the presence of Russian troops.