Fit for a Kaiser (2/6)

Fit for a Kaiser (2/6)

Ida suffers under the strict thumb of Deaconess Matron Martha, making friends with shy young nurse Therese. Therese is attracted to Ida, as is med student Georg Tischendorf. While Ida's job at the clinic gets her interested in medicine, artistically talented Georg is just studying for his father's sake. Behring tells Ida that women can study medicine in Switzerland - but not in the German Reich - and gives her books to read.
Koch has struck up an amour fou with Hedwig, 30 years his junior, trying to keep his affair a secret. Liberal reformers in the Reich like Virchow hope for a political thaw now that Kaiser Friedrich has ascended to the throne. But Friedrich dies of cancer, leaving his nationalist firebrand son Wilhelm as the next Kaiser.
When the daughter of clinic director Spinola comes down with diphtheria, Behring saves her life with a trachectomy, thereby becoming one of Spinola's favorites. Behring convinces Spinola of his revolutionary idea for a diphtheria remedy. Mrs. Spinola and their daughter Else enjoy the young doctor's frequent private calls, as well. Only Ida knows he has to use opiates to keep his manic-depressive mood swings in check. The Charité staff is working around the clock, meanwhile: The new Kaiser Wilhelm II. is coming to visit in person! But it turns out he's only interested in Koch's lab and TBC research. The Kaiser promises Koch his own research institute if he can find a remedy by the time of the next World Medical Convention.

The Charité
Between breakthroughs in medical research and enormous social upheavals in 1888, the Charité is well on its way to becoming the most famous hospital in the world. It is a city within the city, following its own laws and rules. At the beginning of the Wilhelmine Period, up to 4,000 patients are treated annually. Along with the expected injuries caused by the booming Industrialization, patients are suffering from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, typhoid and cholera, as well as from sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis. In addition, there are over 1000 students, taught at the Berlin University, who are being trained in this famous hospital by the eventual Nobel Prize winners and most prestigious doctors of the time: Rudolf Virchow, the founder of the modern health care systems, Robert Koch, the discoverer of the tuberculosis virus, Emil von Behring, whose work contributed greatly to the healing of diphtheria and Paul Ehrlich, who developed the first drug against syphilis.

Sönke Wortmann - The Director
Director Sönke Wortmann is one of the big names in contemporary German cinema. His epic melodrama "The Miracle of Bern" (2003) was a world-wide success and his 2006 Football World Cup documentary, "Germany: A Summer's Fairytale", ranks among the country's most successful documentaries. He has also directed the opulent historical drama "The Pope" (2009) as well as "Maybe, Maybe Not" (1994), the most successful German film of the 1990s.