I know I should’ve been more prepared but I’m so overwhelmed by what this turned out to be. I didn’t read any reviews prior to impulsively throwing it on, only the description, and I had the actual thought in my head beforehand that this would be an “easier” intro to a director I’ve been dying to get into. I simply couldn’t have been more wrong but in the end I couldn’t be happier that I was. Off the top of my head this is my new favorite cinematic allegory for capitalism while also brilliantly touching on patriarchal, sexual, and obviously marital themes, I was fully expecting the technical prowess but this gorgeous story of a woman using her cunning mind and looks to raise her status in this desolate, devastating post-WW2 depiction of West Germany is what really caught me off guard in the best way. A favorite part of this for me that I have to address first is how it subverts the “femme fatale” archetype, Maria may ‘use’ these men to propel herself higher but she truly enjoys it and sinks her teeth into the affairs. The whole time during those dark bed scenes of the skin caressing you can feel her words, “I’m fond of ___, but I love Hermann”, I love how it gives the character such a feeling of blissful freedom and a sense of power and control over her own life next to obvious example of that with her being the breadwinner or “alpha” of the marriage. The only reason why I use “a sense of” there is because, by all standards we’re accustomed to she did have that power over her life, but the true meaning of this film and its ending is the fact that she never truly did despite her successes, the truth is in the unshakable reality that she’s still stuck in this patriarchal capitalist society that has, does, and will always hold her down. I love that it can take all of the power away from Maria’s character while still preserving the person she is because ‘losing’ to this villain does not take away from what she achieved in her life, there’s no shame in losing to a villain that’s starved and killed billions through poverty and war and who’s power is simply unstoppable in a world that we’ve bred for its success, and at least for my experience with this movie at this point in my life that’s what I believe Rainer was trying to make us understand about Maria the most. Despite what she went through she made the conscious choice not to let her husband’s memory consume her like she watched in her mother and she lived a true life of individuality, and to me, “won” because of that. In the role of Maria Hanna Schygulla gives what is quite possibly my favorite female lead of all time, she was a perfect pick for this powerful, domineering character and she ran with the opportunity giving a powerhouse of a performance and enchanting me with her every moment screen. I feel like I could rant about the nuances of her performance for hours but I’ll put it on hold to talk about the rest of the movie, this is already getting crazy long, I did see that coming with how intense the experience was though. I wish I could say I’m surprised at how beautifully this film was made but I’m not, that seems to be a trend when I visit these highly-acclaimed mid 20th century European directors, from Ingmar Bergman to Andrei Tarkovsky to Sergei Parajanov and now Rainer Werner Fassbinder they’ve all had uniquely gorgeous eyes for filming and since I’ve only graced the surface of all of those directors’ work I know I have plenty of great stuff, maybe even to this level, that I’ve yet to see. The shots here were amazing and this is some of my new favorite usage of lighting of all time, my only wish regarding the visuals is that I spoke German so I could’ve spent more time appreciating the visuals instead of looking at the subtitles. Another technical feat most worthy of praise was the sound design, I loved the way radio casts and football games would fill the background of conversations and with Peer Raven’s score and the song soundtrack it all really helped to bring out Rainer’s vision. I call myself a fan of romance dramas but right now it almost feels like I’ve never seen one in my life. I don’t like busting the m-word out too often but THIS is what I call a masterpiece, an absolutely monumental introduction to Rainer Werner Fassbinder that puts him on the fast track to becoming one of my goats, this is just one of the best things ever made, I don’t know what else to say.
***“Do you want to leave me?”
***
“That’s stupid. It would only make us unhappier. At least if you know you’re unhappy, there’s still hope.”
I know I should’ve been more prepared but I’m so overwhelmed by what this turned out to be. I didn’t read any reviews prior to impulsively throwing it on, only the description, and I had the actual thought in my head beforehand that this would be an “easier” intro to a director I’ve been dying to get into. I simply couldn’t have been more wrong but in the end I couldn’t be happier that I was. Off the top of my head this is my new favorite cinematic allegory for capitalism while also brilliantly touching on patriarchal, sexual, and obviously marital themes, I was fully expecting the technical prowess but this gorgeous story of a woman using her cunning mind and looks to raise her status in this desolate, devastating post-WW2 depiction of West Germany is what really caught me off guard in the best way. A favorite part of this for me that I have to address first is how it subverts the “femme fatale” archetype, Maria may ‘use’ these men to propel herself higher but she truly enjoys it and sinks her teeth into the affairs. The whole time during those dark bed scenes of the skin caressing you can feel her words, “I’m fond of ___, but I love Hermann”, I love how it gives the character such a feeling of blissful freedom and a sense of power and control over her own life next to obvious example of that with her being the breadwinner or “alpha” of the marriage. The only reason why I use “a sense of” there is because, by all standards we’re accustomed to she did have that power over her life, but the true meaning of this film and its ending is the fact that she never truly did despite her successes, the truth is in the unshakable reality that she’s still stuck in this patriarchal capitalist society that has, does, and will always hold her down. I love that it can take all of the power away from Maria’s character while still preserving the person she is because ‘losing’ to this villain does not take away from what she achieved in her life, there’s no shame in losing to a villain that’s starved and killed billions through poverty and war and who’s power is simply unstoppable in a world that we’ve bred for its success, and at least for my experience with this movie at this point in my life that’s what I believe Rainer was trying to make us understand about Maria the most. Despite what she went through she made the conscious choice not to let her husband’s memory consume her like she watched in her mother and she lived a true life of individuality, and to me, “won” because of that. In the role of Maria Hanna Schygulla gives what is quite possibly my favorite female lead of all time, she was a perfect pick for this powerful, domineering character and she ran with the opportunity giving a powerhouse of a performance and enchanting me with her every moment screen. I feel like I could rant about the nuances of her performance for hours but I’ll put it on hold to talk about the rest of the movie, this is already getting crazy long, I did see that coming with how intense the experience was though. I wish I could say I’m surprised at how beautifully this film was made but I’m not, that seems to be a trend when I visit these highly-acclaimed mid 20th century European directors, from Ingmar Bergman to Andrei Tarkovsky to Sergei Parajanov and now Rainer Werner Fassbinder they’ve all had uniquely gorgeous eyes for filming and since I’ve only graced the surface of all of those directors’ work I know I have plenty of great stuff, maybe even to this level, that I’ve yet to see. The shots here were amazing and this is some of my new favorite usage of lighting of all time, my only wish regarding the visuals is that I spoke German so I could’ve spent more time appreciating the visuals instead of looking at the subtitles. Another technical feat most worthy of praise was the sound design, I loved the way radio casts and football games would fill the background of conversations and with Peer Raven’s score and the song soundtrack it all really helped to bring out Rainer’s vision. I call myself a fan of romance dramas but right now it almost feels like I’ve never seen one in my life. I don’t like busting the m-word out too often but THIS is what I call a masterpiece, an absolutely monumental introduction to Rainer Werner Fassbinder that puts him on the fast track to becoming one of my goats, this is just one of the best things ever made, I don’t know what else to say.
***“Do you want to leave me?”
***
“That’s stupid. It would only make us unhappier. At least if you know you’re unhappy, there’s still hope.”
