Lady Gaga has his verses tattooed on her upper arm, Bono quotes him in his songs, a CD series with his poems recently achieved gold status three times in a row: Rainer Maria Rilke is now much more than just one of the most important poets in literary history; with his ‘Duino Elegies’ in particular, he has become an international life guide and keyword giver of a new longing for depth and seriousness. He also travelled all over Europe, lived in Paris for a long time and wrote a significant proportion of his poems in French, making him the Franco-German poet par excellence. This is the story of a phenomenon that still fascinates today and the search for the secret of its magic.
First broadcast: On the 150th birthday of Rainer Maria Rilke in December 2025
Written and directed by: Thomas von Steinacker
DOP: Henning Brümmer
Editor: Volker Schaner
Commissioning Editors: Dieter Schneider (ZDF), Barbara Seiler (SRF)
Producers: Bernhard von Hülsen, Maria Willer
A production of 3B-Produktion GmbH in co-production with ZDF and SRF in co-operation with ARTE
Co-funded by the European Union
