A rumor about a romantic triangle involving the famed poet/author/philosopher Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) has been parlayed into a nearly three-hour saga by writer-director Dominik Graf. The setting is Weimar at the end of the Age of Enlightenment, and the film is ablaze with the look of the era as the personal relationships are depicted and dissected.

We are introduced to two sisters when they are young and swear eternal fidelity to one another. So much for intentions. As their lives develop Caroline von Beulwitz, compellingly played by Hannah Herszsprung, is married but unhappily in a liaison she has entered into with a view toward providing security for her mother and her younger sister Charlotte Legenfeld, played spiritedly by Henriette Confurius.

Along comes the poor but on-the-rise Schiller (Florian Stetter), and both sisters are to fall for him. Charlotte follows her own devious plan. Also wanting to make her sister happy, she marries Schiller so that they both can have him while the marriage serves as a cover for her unhappily married Caroline. Who wants to place a bet that such furtive bliss will have problems?

We follow the intricacies of the arrangement as Caroline gains success as a romance fiction writer and Schiller’s recognition mounts. One interesting sidelight is the dramatization of Schiller giving a university lecture that is eagerly awaited in a jammed hall, with wild applause greeting his pronouncements. It is a nice touch. When does a lecture produce such excitement these days?

But at the heart of the story is the rift that inevitably develops between the sisters over the love of their man, and all of the intrigue that develops in leading to the ultimate resolution. Another by-product of the film is the intense sending of notes—messages delivered whether openly or in secret. The art of letter-writing is practiced as the order of the day, an art being lost in our age of email and Twitter.

The acting is colorful throughout and the look of the film has its appeal. But the film is overlong and some sharp trimming would help. Director Graf has used his imagination to advantage in fleshing out the idea of what may have happened. It does make a good yarn, informed by the society-flaunting behavior of women independent-minded for the time.

How much can we assume may be true? Caroline was to write a biography of Schiller, which was published in 1830. But she didn’t oblige with information about what may or may not have been going on personally.