autumnsoliloquy90: (straight through the heart)
[personal profile] autumnsoliloquy90


Finally, German films. Without subtitles! (More like, there aren't any on Youtube.) Very interesting film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a controversial director of his time. In short, this film is about a "forbidden love" between a young Morrocan Gastarbeiter and an older German lady. Sounds a bit like Harold and Maude released a few years earlier than this film, but without the morbid and surrealistic elements. This film is going more for realism, I think, and focuses more on the double unconventionalism in their relationship, or at least in the context of the 1970s: their huge age gap and a taboo intercultural relationship.

The first part of the film basically deals with the opprobrium they get from the people around them because of their defiance against conventions. Fassbinder illustrates this through Emmi's gossipy neighbours and their xenophobic remarks. Ali also receives bad service at a local grocer's perhaps out of a misunderstanding but more probably because of racial prejudice. Emmi's life deteriorates to the extent where she is blatantly ostracised by her co-workers at the cleaning company she works at. Furthermore, her grown-up children react violently to news of their marriage, they call her a whore, her apartment a pigsty and basically disown her.

It all seems rather surreal and unbelievable. Racism does go to such lows but if Fassbinder was going for realism, then it's astonishingly depressing. But then again, it's important to take note that this was in the 1970s, and Germany has definitely come a long way since then (I hope). Perhaps the social context also played a part in this. Emmi and Ali come from the lower echelons of society; I'm sure if this was a film about an interracial relationship from the educated class it would be a much different story. It may sound horribly bourgeois but perhaps tolerance is a privilege of the higher classes? Maybe so, but not always true in all cases.

A clear highlight of the film is the question of why people judge things out of convention. Emmi justifies the people's negative reactions to their union with jealousy. The gossipy neighbours had perhaps always wanted to be in a sexual relationship with a fine young exotic male specimen but could never bring themselves to do it because they feared being ostracised. In one scene, one of them says "das kann keiner, ohne die anderen zu leben", no one can live without the others, even if he had his most important beloved person with him. Happiness vs. propriety. I think for many people, this is true. Can one really throw away the rest of the world just for one single tru wuv?

My favourite scene would have to be shortly after they were married, and they were in the middle of an alfresco restaurant, where everyone was staring at them. She tearfully calls them all "dirty pigs" and declares "this is my husband!" It was so hilarious and yet heartwarming at the same time. Ironically, they have their first meal as husband and wife at the Italian restaurant Hitler frequented.

My gripe with the portrayal of the inherent human prejudice is that it was too one-sided. As if the Germans were the only ones afflicted with such a human fault. For it to have been realistic, Ali's friends should have condemned their marriage as well, because I really doubt they would have approved of a non-Muslim wife.

The second part of the film is basically showing that it's not happily ever after for them either, despite their determination to stay together. Surprisingly the whole world starts being nicer to them; the neighbours treat her not only in a civil manner but in fact overly friendly, and her son even reconciles with Emmi. But it is clear later that this miraculous turn of events is precipitated by these people's desire to make use of them monetarily or otherwise. Fassbinder must have been a jaded man.

Their relationship also goes downhill from there. Ali just wants couscous but Emmi doesn't like it. (Couscous = a metaphor for sex? LOL) So he starts an affair with a voluptuous woman working at the bar where he had met Emmi, even laughs at her age with his colleagues when she visits him. Emmi on the other hand, panders to everyone else by trying to Germanise Ali, showing him off to the neighbours like a trophy and we also see that despite her acceptance of Ali because of her love, she is not above prejudice and being flawed as well. She later joins her friends in ostracising another who has been accused of theft, in a manner that mirrors how she was ostracised once. We also find out that she was once part of the National Socialist Party "like everyone else" she says, and yet married a Polish man. Showing that the bullied is often not above becoming the bully as well, just like the bully can become the bullied.

I don't really dig the ending (I guess that say a lot about my optimism, or the lack of it), but overall I find this a hilarious and insightful film. Realistic, but not without hope. Favourite quote: "Schwanz ist kaputt" - cock is broken. FLOL. It's been hailed as Fassbinder's best work, though seriously my fave of his is the 1974 Effi Briest adaptation. But it's pretty interesting in light of the fact that the actor playing Ali was Fassbinder's lover at that time, though he met with a tragic end apparently. Allegedly two of Fassbinder's many amour, one of them being this actor, committed suicide during their relationships with him. Is this film a reflection of their relationship in real life? i.e. Emmi = Fassbinder? Who knows.

The title "Angst essen Seele auf" (Fear Eats Up The Soul) is grammatically incorrect (should be "Angst isst Seele auf" but is intentionally so to allude to Ali's limited grasp of German. The fear here, I believe, refers to the fear of other people's judgment of our actions, which indeed eats up the souls of not just the two protagonists in the story, but also that of the people who judge them. A visually appealing and eye-opening experience to watch. 7/10

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December 2016

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