Thursday
Feb162012
Very Veronika
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 1:16PM . 
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JA from MNPP here. This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's second-to-last film, the glorious Veronika Voss. The film is the final piece in his "BRD Trilogy" (BRD stands for "Bundesrepublik Deutschland," the official name of West Germany and of the united contemporary Germany"), which includes The Marriage of Maria Braun and Lola. It was released at the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Bear. Anyone a fan? It's basically his methadone-drenched take on Sunset Boulevard, and one of the most beautiful of Fassbinder's films (which is saying a lot) - the blackest-black-and-whitest-white cinematography by frequent collaborator Xaver Schwarzenberger is a dazzling thing.
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The film's star Rosel Zech, seen up top dialing a phone and smoking like nobody's business - she spends a lot of the movie doing both, and she does them magnificently - just passed away last September, we briefly memorialized her at MNPP. Fassbinder himself died four months after this movie was released in 1982, and his final film, the swarthy homosexual-sailors Genet adaptation Querelle, was released that same September, a fittingly frenetic conclusion to a career that burned very brightly at both ends. I keep desperately waiting for the Fassbinder bio-pic of my dreams - I mean, we have Jeremy Renner to play him now! What else do we need?
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Reader Comments (10)
Wow, that could really work. He would need to put on some kilos though, which certainly couldn't be bad for his Oscar prospects as history teaches us.
I have not brought myself to watch any of RWFs movies yet. I always consider it when one is on TV. The thing is his films really don't look too much like my cup of tea, but he definitely has a fascinating persona, biography and reputation, and that certainly draws my interest and that's why I would like to give his oeuvre a shot.
I Love Fassbinder's movie even if they are not widely available (what A shame). I've seen a few of them & my personnel favorite is: "The Bitter Tears of Petra Van Kan". Unique. Troubling. Beautiful. Everything Art should be...
Love, love, love Veronika Voss, but I love Lola even more.
Veronika Voss is a masterpiece. I LOVE that fact that it won the Berlinale when Joan Fontaine was president of the jury. It's just like she felt for Veronika, like she was a German counterpart.
I love your phrasing "blackest-black-and-whitest-white cinematography". So apt! I had the opportunity to watch the BRD-Trilogie back-to-back at a special screening at the cinema. I cannot decide which one i like most.
The BRD Trilogy is the one out-of-print Criterion Release I regret not buying.
I love the Marriage of Maria Braun, Hanna Schygulla is amazing I fell in love with her she can do anythin, I also lover Lola and The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant...
I love the Marriage of Maria Braun, Hanna Schygulla is amazing I fell in love with her she can do anythin, I also lover Lola and The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant...
I love the Marriage of Maria Braun, Hanna Schygulla is amazing I fell in love with her she can do anythin, I also lover Lola and The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant...
Great movie, my Fassbinder favorite - I even got the poster (one-sheet?) in my bedroom - and Rosel Zech was excellent in it.
And Kudos to the correct spelling of all the German terms!
Greetings from Berlin.