A few words about Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Fassbinder
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Rainer Werner Fassbinder was one of the primary figures of the film movement known as The New German Cinema, that began during the mid 1960s and blossomed during the 1970s, bringing new life to the German cinema, long depressed since the end of the second World War. Luminaries of The New German Cinema included such iconoclasts as Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Volker Schlondorf and of course Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Of all of the directors of The New German Cinema Fassbinder was the most prolific, having directed with breakneck speed from 1969 till his death in June 1982, an amazing 43 feature films, including the 15 hour Berlin Alexanderplatz. Fassbinder's cinema would be a fascinating contextualization of Hollywood Melodramas examining post-war German experience. This combination of styles would often challenge his audience, he was sometimes accused of being too Hollywood for the avant-garde, and too avant-garde for Hollywood. Though working so quickly Fassbinder maintained an incredibly high level of quality, and intelligence in all of his films, making them so engaging to discover 30 years later.

Fassbinder would acquire extensive experience in the German Anti-Theater during the sixties, perfecting his skills in all aspects of production before making the plunge into film in 1969 (he would direct five feature films that year alone!). The influence of the theater can be felt in many of his later films, notably The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, that I will talk about later in a different post. I have not yet seen any of the films Fassbinder directed during this stage of his career, so I cannot comment on these films from experience. I do know that many of his early films were stylistically an extension of his work in the Anti-theatre, and were often influenced by American Gangster pictures, particularly the films of directors Raoul Walsh and Howard Hawks (His second short film made in 1966 Das Kleine Chaos-The Little Chaos which I have seen, is a Gangster film, and even includes an homage to Walsh). Fassbinder would claim that the mother/son relationship in Walsh's film White Heat would influence all of the mother/son relationships in his own films.

By the end of 1970, Fassbinder would discover the films of director Douglas Sirk, famous for his Hollywood Melodramas, such as All That Heaven Allows, Imitation of Life, Written on the Wind, The Tarnished Angels, and Magnificent Obsession. Fassbinder was fascinated by the humanity and intelligence he found in Sirk's films. At the time, Sirk's were still considered trashy and sentimental Hollywood kitsch by most of the film world. Fassbinder was one of the first and certainly the loudest of Sirk's reappraisers. Fassbinder would even reimagine Sirk's film All That Heaven Allows, with his loose remake Ali: Fear Eats The Soul -1973

Beginning with Fassbinder's 13th film The Merchant of the Four Seasons -1971, Fassbinder would plant his style firmly in the grounds of a Modern Melodrama. Fassbinder would skirt on the edges of artifice and naturalism for the rest of his career with such varied films as Petra von Kant-1972, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul-1973, Fox and His Friends-1974, Effi Briest-1974, and Fear of Fear-1975 to name only a few.

Fassbinder would find his greatest success during the final stage of his career beginning with the international success of his film The Marriage of Maria Braun-1978. This period would see Fassbinder with much larger budgets than he had ever had before, and his films began to show even more of his Hollywood influence. The visual stylization became more extreme during this period with films such as Berlin Alexanderplatz-1980, Lili Marleen-1980, Lola-1981, Veronica Voss-1982 and his final film Querelle, Fassbinder's adaptation of Jean Genet's novel Querelle de Brest. Some critics have argued that during this later period Fassbinder's films suffered from their larger budgets and epic style. I cannot say, because I feel that even the least interesting of the films from this period I have seen Lola-1981, is still interesting in many ways. I look forward to watching Berlin Alexanderplatz-1980 the 15 hour epic, made for German television. Those that have seen it claim that it is his masterpiece. In any case it is difficult to tell in what direction Fassbinder's career would have ultimately taken him.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder died on the night of June 10, 1982. He was 37 years old. Fassbinder took an overdose of cocaine and sleeping pills, while working on the script to a film about Rosa Luxemburg, that was to star Jane Fonda. Up to his final moments Fassbinder was dedicated to the creation of his art. For those of us who love his films, we are grateful for his creative drive, and dedication to film.