Happy Birthday, Rainer Werner Fassbinder! Born today in 1945 (and sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder), this West German filmmaker is widely regarded as a prominent figure and catalyst of the New German Cinema movement.
Fassbinder was also an essayist, playwright, theatre director, editor, composer, cinematographer and actor.
In the early 1970s, Fassbinder discovered the American melodramas of German film director Douglas Sirk ('All That Heaven Allows', 'Written on the Wind') and was inspired by them to begin working in a new, more intensely emotional register.
As a filmmaker, Fassbinder is best known for writing and directing the first film of which he is best known. This was the 1972 West German drama/romance film 'Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant' ('The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant').
The film tells of two women, being Karin Thimm (Hanna Schygulla) and Marlene (Irm Hermann). Both form a sexual triangle with arrogant and narcissistic fashion designer Petra von Kant (Margit Carstensen) in her arty apartment.
With an all-female cast, the story is told in a theater-like fashion in four different acts, each depicting the states of mind of the main character hinted visually by her clothes and hair.
Fassbinder is also best known for writing, producing and directing the second film of which he is best known. This was the 1974 West German drama/romance film 'Angst essen Seele auf' ('Ali: Fear Eats the Soul').
Set in post-World War II Germany, the film follows Emmi Kurowski (Brigitte Mira), a cleaning lady of whom is lonely in her old age. Her husband had died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship.
One night she goes to a bar frequented by Arab immigrants and strikes up a friendship with middle-aged Moroccan migrant mechanic Ali (El Hedi ben Salem).
Their relationship soon develops into something more, and Emmi's family and neighbors criticize their spontaneous marriage. Soon Emmi and Ali are forced to confront their own insecurities about their future.
The film won the International Federation of Film Critics award for best in-competition movie and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 27th Cannes Film Festival in May of that same year.
The following year, Fassbinder co-wrote, directed and starred in the third film of which he is best known. This was the 1975 West German drama/romance film 'Faustrecht der Freiheit' ('Fox and His Friends'). The film is also known as 'Fist-Right of Freedom'.
In this dark examination of love and money, it tells of the sweet and unsophisticated working-class gay man Franz Biberkopf (Fassbinder). He works in a carnival as "Fox, the Talking Head".
When he meets the older and dapper Max (Karlheinz Böhm) who has upper-class roots, Fox thinks that he may have found someone to help him out, but Max refuses to do so.
However, this changes when Fox wins big on the lottery, and Max becomes friendlier and helps to reinvent Fox. But, in fact, Max and his friends are slyly trying to swindle him out of his new fortune.
Among his credits, Fassbinder's best known work was his BRD (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) Trilogy. Each of these films are connected in a thematic rather than narrative sense.
The trilogy included the 1979 West German drama/melodrama film 'Die Ehe der Maria Braun' ('The Marriage of Maria Braun'), the 1981 West German drama/comedy film 'Lola' and the 1982 West German black and white drama film 'Veronica Voss'.
The original title for 'Veronica Voss' was 'Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss' ('The Longing of Veronika Voss'). The film is the second film of his BRD Trilogy, but was chronologically made last, after 'The Marriage of Maria Braun' and 'Lola'.
It is also the penultimate film of his career (preceding his 1982 West German-French English-language drama/LGBT film 'Querelle') and the last film released during Fassbinder's lifetime.
Of the trilogy, however, Fassbinder is best known for editing (as Franz Walsch), co-writing and directing the fourth and final film of which he is best known. This was the 1979 West German war/drama film 'Die Ehe der Maria Braun'('The Marriage of Maria Braun').
Near the end of World War II, Maria (Hanna Schygulla) marries Hermann Braun (Klaus Löwitsch), who is immediately sent off to battle. When the war concludes, Maria believes that Hermann is dead.
Later on, she starts working at an Allied bar, where she meets African-American soldier Bill (George Byrd). They start a relationship that is interrupted when Hermann returns alive.
During a scuffle between the men, Maria accidentally murders Bill. However, Hermann takes the blame and goes to jail, while Maria begins a hard new life.
Fassbinder passed from a lethal cocktail of cocaine and barbiturates. This occurred in Munich, West Germany on June 10, 1982. He was 37.
Although his career lasted less than two decades, he was extremely prolific; by the time of his death, he had completed over forty feature films, two television series, three short films, four video productions, and twenty-four plays.
Fassbinder had been active from 1965–1982.
#borntoact
#borntodirect
#borntodirect
@BFI
@Criterion
@RogerEbert
@theguardian
@indiewire
@Britannica
No comments:
Post a Comment