Georgetown is a prestigious area of Washington, DC, and was home to Albrecht Muth, called Ulrich Mott in the movie Georgetown. Muth was a grifter, social climber, and a seemingly professional liar. In his late forties, Muth was 44 years younger than his wife, a woman named Elsa Brecht in the film but who is based on Muth’s real-life wife, journalist Viola Drath.
Most people who surround Elsa/Viola are suspicious of her much-younger husband, but she cannot see through him. He even lies about what he does for a living, although he did have significant friends and colleagues in the DC area, including Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia and both George Bushes. Some of the couple’s friends, including Elsa’s daughter Amanda, were very suspicious of him.
As the marriage rolls on, Elsa discovers that her husband is gay and domestic abuse enters the relationship. She was seen with more than one black eye and bruise, but she always blamed it on something else because she didn’t want people to know the truth. In real life, this is the story of Albrecht Muth and Viola Drath.
In 2011, Muth called 911 and said that his wife had fallen down some stairs and died. It seemed plausible until an autopsy found bruising on her head and skull. In 2014, Albrecht Muth was convicted of killing his 91-year-old wife and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Some of the major and minor characters in Georgetown include:
Christoph Waltz (Ulrich Mott)
Ulrich Mott is a schmoozer and a con man who manages to convince many of Washington’s elite that he is more than he truly is. When he first meets his wife, he is a teenage intern, and she has been married to the same man for about 40 years. He still impresses her, despite his young age, and years later after her husband dies, he contacts her and the relationship heats up.
The only person who seems a little suspicious of his demeanor is his wife’s daughter, Amanda, who keeps an eye on him even though it does no good in the end. Since his wife shows up occasionally with bruises, it is assumed that he is an abuser. Exactly what happens on the night his wife dies no one knows for sure, but Ulrich is eventually convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison for her murder.
Vanessa Redgrave (Elsa Breht)
Elsa Breht is a trusting soul who finds dating and marrying a man 40+ years her junior to be just what she needs in her life after she becomes a widow. When people comment on the age difference, she seems happy to tell them that this is what she wants instead of a man close to her age. Elsa is a journalist who writes mostly for German publications, and she and her husband both have ties to Germany because he left East Germany to come to the U.S.
Elsa is also an abused wife who ends up at the bottom of a staircase in the end. The death isn’t investigated until the medical examiner finds bruising on her skull. This eventually leads to her husband being tried and convicted of her murder.
Annette Bening (Amanda Breht)
Amanda is Elsa’s daughter and is very suspicious of her mother’s new husband. She believes that he has an ulterior motive for marrying her mother, but she isn’t sure what it is. She isn’t sure why someone his age would even want to marry someone her mother’s age, but although she’s suspicious, you can’t help but believe that while she can’t put her finger on why, she seems to be a lot closer than you think.
In reality, there are only a small handful of people who are suspicious of Ulrich Mott, and Elsa’s daughter Amanda is one of them. But these people end up hitting the nail on the head by the end of the movie.
Below are the other characters in the movie Georgetown: