Rainer Werner Fassbinder

I've been watching an assload of his films recently, and I thought it would be fitting to try something (relatively) new here. Basically select a director, and rather than try and list his ten best films or whatever, just discuss.

So use this thread to write what you like about Fassbinder, what you dislike, which films you'd recommend, which one's you shouldn't approach without personal protective equipment. Why you think he's great, or overrated, interesting facts about his style, his life, whatever.

I'll try and get the ball rolling later, but I want some damn discussion on this, and considering the man made over 40 feature films in a decade, it shouldn't be hard to find something to say about him.

German film industry was in the dumps for quite a while (since WWII) until maverick filmmakers like Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Volker Schlöndorff and Wim Wenders brought it back onto its feet starting in the late 60's and then of course the subsequent decade is considered the most important in German cinema history. The "New Wave" truly arrived. But, with all due respect to Herzog, Schlöndorff, and Wenders (all still active), no one contributed more than Fassbinder.

Fassbinder was born in a small town in Baravia in 1942. Unlike his associates of the new wave, he started in theater - as an actor. He made his first feature in 1969 (Love Is Colder Than Death) and he went to make 41 films while he worked as an actor in about 25 other. Fassbinder also worked as a cameraman, composer, designer, editor, producer and theater manager.

The Great ones know that they're great. Call that whatever you want but it's a fact Fassbinder knew. He was also a provocateur, no doubt about it and he didn't shy away from any controversy. Yes, he was an alcoholic, a drug and a sex addict but no one cared more for the social, political, and most importantly, psychological challenges faced by his people post WWII and time and time again he found a way to incorporate that into his films (some morons even called that anti-Semitism).

Fassbinder loved Douglas Sirk (another key figure theatrically speaking would be Jean-Marie Straub) . In The Anarchy of the Imagination (I highly recommend it), which is a collection of interviews, essays, and other notes by the man himself; he states, " Yes, actually ever since I saw his films and tried to write about them, Sirk's been in everything I've done. Not Sirk himself, but what I've learned from his work. Sirk told me what the studio bosses in Hollywood told him: a film has to over in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Okinawa, and in Chicago - just try to think what the common denominator might be for people in all those places. To Sirk, something still mattered that most people in Hollywood don't care about anymore: make sure his work was in tune with himself, with his own personality, that is, not just produced 'for the public', like in those films in Germany that none of us like: those sex and entertainment films that the producers think the public likes, but they don't like themselves." Sound familiar!

Here's what Sirk said about Fassbinder, "Before I met Rainer I sensed something, and then when I saw him I recognized, with that eye every filmmaker has to have, a personality of great originality."

French filmmaker François Ozon paid tribute to Fassbinder by using his play (which Fassbinder wrote when he was 19!) into his masterful Water Drops On Burning Rocks. The theatrical/melodramatic aspects apparent in his other films are also an influence of the great man.

The Marriage of Maria Braun, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, and Katzelmacher are 3 of the finest films made in Germany or in any other country for the last half-century. Some of his others aren't far behind. Katzelmacher is silent and fragmented, much like the people it depicts. Using long takes, Fassbinder investigates the hollow lives of a few as they go through their daily rituals. The interracial couple of Ali: Fear Eats the Soul provoked the people around them and that was what Fassbinder was about yet he still managed to portray the humanity of the situation and fragility of the relationship. The Marriage of Maria Braun, is considered by many as his crowning achievement and one can see why. Taking place right after the war, the film depicts yet critiques the immorality in his people due to the economic struggles they have to endure. True love cannot survive in a world like this.

Fassbinder will live forever.

(Dammit wpqx! I planned on reviewing a film today)

Well I'm honestly impressed with how well that turned out, grade A work. Katzelmacher doesn't ring a bell to me, so I guess I got some more to see.

As for myself, well I think I've made my favorite Fassbinder film pretty well known. That film is one of the mammoth cinematic works in film history, on par only with Edgar Reitz's Heimat series. Of course I'm speaking of the 15 hour Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980). The series progresses as a super Fassbinder film. A veritable best of for his filmography. Mixing the right amount of powerful emotions, melodrama, social and politcal critique, and a tough examination of personal morals. It is in the epilogue though that the series truly transcends itself.

I realize that it is hard (even for cinephiles) to sit through a 15 hour film (or series). For this reason Berlin Alexanderplatz has been out of print for over 20 years. The good thing is that the film does exist on VHS. It may take some serious searching, but with a good source, it can be had. It is hard to even explain how the film gets so good, but just imagine everything you love about 2001, Luis Bunuel, and David Lynch.

arsaib may have suggested that The Marriage of Maria Braun is Fassbinder's best, and one of the best films from Germany. I would go so far as to name Berlin Alexanderplatz the finest of all German film. It is a shame that for a director so readily available on DVD, his greatest accomplishment (imo) has not yet been released.

As for his features, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant is my favorite (of the dozen or so I've seen). It is an excercise in simplicity. Shot in 15 days and using one extremely small set for the entire film, it shows what a resourceful director can do. The cast is limited as well, with only three principal leads, one of which doesn't have a line of dialogue. Perhaps to save time, or perhaps to show off, the film is shot in massively lengthy takes. The camera is observant, and Fassbinder lets it capture his actors as they give and receive abuse. If you aren't quite convinced to see the film, remember it has lesbians.

I view Fassbinder as sort of a German Godard, if for nothing else the quantity of his output. Like Godard, Fassbinder was a member of a new wave, although the German New Wave was a far less unified stylistic trend. It was also far less popular domestically. Fassbinder though was neither the initiator (as Godard hadn't been) but he assumed the reigns of leadership better than anyone else. Sure he may have not had the most successful films (Wenders seems to lead things here), but his films say the most. He was the most experimental, the most challenging, the most controversial, and ultimately the best of the bunch.

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Originally posted by wpqx
I realize that it is hard (even for cinephiles) to sit through a 15 hour film (or series). For this reason Berlin Alexanderplatz has been out of print for over 20 years. The good thing is that the film does exist on VHS. It may take some serious searching, but with a good source, it can be had.

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Yeah, I think it's about time I expend a $100 and went for this one. I'm just afraid that I won't be able to see much due to all the mutated versions it has spawned. It doesn't help that Fassbinder shot it to make it look "real" as possible.

The camera is observant, and Fassbinder lets it capture his actors as they give and receive abuse. If you aren't quite convinced to see the film, remember it has lesbians.

And I might add that they're good looking.

I view Fassbinder as sort of a German Godard, if for nothing else the quantity of his output. Like Godard, Fassbinder was a member of a new wave, although the German New Wave was a far less unified stylistic trend.

Interesting, but Fassbinder tried (perspicaciously of course) to wound up both his liberal and his conservative audiences at the same time with his films something Godard didn't try (at least not knowingly) but instead he's fought to withhold his films as "intellectually affirming."

Check out the article from "Senses of Cinema" for a more complete look at Fassbinder's career. Here it is.

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Originally posted by arsaib4
Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Volker Schlöndorff and Wim Wenders brought it back onto its feet starting in the late 60's and then of course the subsequent decade is considered the most important in German cinema history.

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I consider the 1920s the most important decade in German cinema.

F.W. MURNAU: Ther Last Laugh, Faust, Nosferatu, etc.
FRITZ LANG: Destiny, Dr. Mabuse, Die Niebelungen, Metropolis...
ERNST LUBITSCH: The Oyster Princess, Loves of a Pharaoh
ROBERT WIENE: Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Raskolnikov

There were other minor figures like Paul Wegener (Golem). Then Josef von Sternberg went to Germany in 1929 to shoot a little masterpiece called The Blue Angel.

Gentlemen, I'd take Murnau, Lang, Lubitsch and Wiene over Fassbinder, Wenders, Herzog and Schlondorff without hesitation.

I don't think it's fair to put Lubitsch in that category. Sure he made a few German films, but his greatest period of productivity occured outside of Germany. I mean say what you will about Passion, but Trouble in Paradise is a better film.

Perhaps we can get another thread going for Lubitsch, certainly his work is worth discussing.

Now Lang and Murnau are a fair group to make comparissons (especially considering Herzog was a self proclaimed successor to Murnau). Although Murnau's best film might have been made in the US, he was still principally a German. Lang, who had a very long and prolific career in Hollywood, is arguably the best of all German directors. I believe that his rather brief period of productivity in Germany is one of the greatest canons in film history. Perhaps Destiny doesn't quite match up to The Big Heat, but as a unified body of work, Lang's German phase clearly outshines his Hollywood days. Which I believe may have had something to do with the level of control he had in Germany vs. Hollywood. Once in the US he and his wife stopped writing their scripts (at least officially). Plus the old studios certainly kept a tighter leash on him.

Anyways I'm getting off subject, but overall, I probably will have to say that Germany in the seventies was Germany at it's cinematic peak.

Sacrilege!!! I forgot:

G.W. PABST: Diary of a Lost Girl, Joyless Street, Pandora's Box,....

*The Lubitsch films I mentioned were made in Germany.
*The influence that Germany's films of the 1920s had on world cinema cannot be compared to the influence of the 70s output. For me it's a no-brainer, but it's a matter of opinion and yours is as valid as mine (assuming you've seen the films from the 1920s and I have no doubt you have).

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Originally posted by wpqx
Germany in the seventies was Germany at it's cinematic peak.

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Yup, Herzog and Schlöndorff continue to be undervalved by the general public partly because they're still alive and active. I'll take Fassbinder over any of them (including the likes of Murnau and Lang) any day.