People who say this was Fassbinder's best film may be correct in their way -- the structuring is impeccable, and the four principal characters all lean into their roles with plenty of gusto.
Rosel Zech as the washed-up hot mess title character, Hilmar Thate as the schlubby sportswriter in way (way, way) over his head, Annemarie Duringer as the grimacing crooked doctor who can't believe she's getting away with this shit, and even Cornelia Froebess in a thankless doomed-girlfriend role, all bloom in the sharply-contrasted shadows here.
But there is... a bit of a following-the-numbersness to it. Is it better than its Hollywood comparable, Sunset Boulevard? As a film about a once-great actress whose best days are long behind her... yes. Yes, it is. And I'm sure there are some layers of metaphor I'm missing about Germany reckoning with the worst parts of itself after the war. (Feel free to help me out.) But once all the characters are in their places, you can see the ending coming an hour out, and all the country & western music on the radio isn't going to fix that.
It's still well worth the watch, though, and the BRD Trilogy is, taken as one body of work, maybe as great a cinematic achievement as I believe I've ever seen.
People who say this was Fassbinder's best film may be correct in their way -- the structuring is impeccable, and the four principal characters all lean into their roles with plenty of gusto.
Rosel Zech as the washed-up hot mess title character, Hilmar Thate as the schlubby sportswriter in way (way, way) over his head, Annemarie Duringer as the grimacing crooked doctor who can't believe she's getting away with this shit, and even Cornelia Froebess in a thankless doomed-girlfriend role, all bloom in the sharply-contrasted shadows here.
But there is... a bit of a following-the-numbersness to it. Is it better than its Hollywood comparable, Sunset Boulevard? As a film about a once-great actress whose best days are long behind her... yes. Yes, it is. And I'm sure there are some layers of metaphor I'm missing about Germany reckoning with the worst parts of itself after the war. (Feel free to help me out.) But once all the characters are in their places, you can see the ending coming an hour out, and all the country & western music on the radio isn't going to fix that.
It's still well worth the watch, though, and the BRD Trilogy is, taken as one body of work, maybe as great a cinematic achievement as I believe I've ever seen.
