The girls are eager to love and be loved, and von Bernburg is the only member of the school staff who shows them the least bit of tenderness. They seem to be crushed out on being crushed out, and they fawn over photos of a male movie star that one of the girls has plastered all over her locker with the same fervor they direct toward von Bernburg.

But Manuela’s feelings for von Bernburg are clearly more than just a girlish crush. She is far more serious and intense, gushing about her feelings not just directly to von Bernburg but to everyone else as well. After Manuela’s star turn in the school play, spiked punch and post-performance euphoria stir her to proclaim her love for von Bernburg from a balcony. What’s worse is she also claims that love is mutual, citing the fact that von Bernburg gave her an undershirt after learning she had none. What’s worst of all, though, is that the principal appears in time to witness the whole mess.

The girls are seen breaking many explicit rules: speaking to each other while undressing, sneaking out uncensored letters to home, and squirreling away contraband, such as money and books. But Manuela crosses the line, breaking an unspoken rule—a far costlier transgression. When it all comes to a head, Manuela is isolated and the one girl who breaks the rule not to speak to her is told that Manuela isn’t worth defending, and that she’ll be grateful for this advice when she’s old enough to understand.

The movie is as much about love as it is a criticism of authoritarianism. The principal tells von Bernburg that she won’t abide by “revolutionary ideas,” such as showing the girls kindness rather than making them fearful. When a girl stumbles over her lines at rehearsal and explains that she is thinking, the drama teacher barks, “Don’t think; obey!” Discipline and sacrifice are the cornerstones of the principal’s philosophy. She warns von Bernburg that “favoritism leads to emotionalism,” which is too disdainful to merit further comment.

The students are starved for food as they are for affection. When von Bernburg pleads with the principal that the girls are going hungry, she gets a speech about how poverty ennobles, from a woman who looks to be well fed. “Through discipline and hunger we will become great,” she insists.

This lecture is intercut with shots of the girls reminiscing in vivid detail about their favorite foods. One drools over a letter from home that mentions killing a pig, another girl recalls coffee cake with whipped cream, and a third one devours their words while chewing on a blade of grass.

Besides portraying forbidden love, the movie functions as a commentary on the misguided ideals and rising nationalism of the time. One of the girls’ mothers writes to remind her daughter not to be lazy because the country needs “iron beings.” That exact phrase may be a peculiarity in the subtitling, but the ties between strength, stoicism and patriotism are clear.

Manuela and von Bernburg threaten the notion of sacrifice for a nobler cause, and for that reason alone, the claim that the Nazis tried to burn every copy of the film seems very plausible. Both Manuela and von Bernburg flaunt human emotion in the face of a cold institution, but the younger woman bubbles over unchecked while the elder has learned to be more reserved and discreet. Von Bernburg tells her, “You must be careful… You mustn’t love me so much.”

The school principal, sets out to make them both pay for their transgressions, but ultimately it is she who loses credibility and suffers while her moralism is called into question. Maedchen in Uniform may have been made over 70 years ago, but--unfortunately--many lesbian and bisexual viewers will find the film's themes of forbidden love and double-standards to be just as resonant today.

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