Hrabina Cosel

Hrabina Cosel The Countess Cosel is a 1968 Polish film directed by Jerzy Antczak. The film is based on Jzef Ignacy Kraszewskis novel Hrabina Cosel, a historical romance set in the court of Augustus the Strong, the first of the two Saxon kings of Poland, at the turn of the 17th to 18th century.

Against the backdrop of life at Augustus court the movie follows the arrival at Dresden of 24yearold Anna Constantia of Brockdorff, who is an inordinately beautiful and scrupulously devout young married woman her romance with the king and her ten year reign as his mistress a role she consents to in the belief that she has won the kings love and commitment and finally, her heartbreak, disillusion and struggle against him. The conflict between Anna and the king arises from the fact that Anna takes seriously not only the relationship, but the written promise of marriage which she manages to secure from him during their courtship. Neither the relationship nor the contract is held in much esteem by Augustus, who replaces her, as he has always done, with another mistress, as soon as she loses for him the charm of novelty. Her valiant refusal to return the marriage promissory note upon request enrages him and delivers her to her miserable fate.In the opinion of the court, Cosel came to be considered increasingly dangerous when it became known that king Augustus had given her a secret written promise of marriage. Ultimately, she fell from grace with the king when she showed her jealousy after her spies told her about the kings affair with Countess Maria Magalena von Dnhoff of Warsaw. Distraught and feeling desperate to win back kings affection, Cosel departed Dresden to meet the king in Warsaw only to be turned back at the city gates. Augustus, having no more feelings for his former mistress, gave orders to lock her up in the Stolpen fortress. Cosels faith and courage, which replaced her initial despair and anger culminated in her decision to remain in her jail, even after Augustus death, thirtytwo years before her own, opened the way for her to regain her freedom. As a result, Cosel was imprisoned for fortynine years, before she died in 1765, being eightyfive years of age. To the end of her life she preserved traces of her great beauty, by which she became so famo

Source: Wikipedia