Berlin Alexanderplatz 1980 Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Berlin Alexanderplatz, originally broadcast in 1980, is a 14-part television film adapted and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder from the Alfred Döblin novel of the same name, and stars Günter Lamprecht, Hanna Schygulla, Barbara Sukowa, Elisabeth Trissenaar and Gottfried John. The complete film is 15½ hours long.
Günter Lamprecht Claus Holm Hanna Schygulla Franz Buchrieser Brigitte Mira Karlheinz Braun Roger Fritz Gottfried John Barbara Sukowa Günther Kaufmann Ivan Desny Volker Spengler Vitus Zeplichal Barbara Valentin Herbert Steinmetz Lilo Pempeit Fritz Schediwy Elisabeth Trissenaar Annemarie Düringer Peter Kuiper Jan George Karin Baal Axel Bauer Klaus Höhne Harry Baer Rolf Zacher Werner Asam Marquard Bohm Yaak Karsunke Show All…
I have not sought out information on this film, but every bit I've ever heard/read focused on two things: the length of it and the epilogue's sharp turn into madness. What I had not heard before (and what I suspect is bandied about in more in-depth reviews that I just hadn't read) is that this is Fassbinder at his visual best. It's wrapped in shadows, tilted and framed through bars, around corners, and beneath its subjects. It captures the bleak beauty of Berlin in the throes of depression and nascent fascism. Had it been a shorter film, I would have screencapped it.
Since I brought it up, let me address the length. This is a miniseries. If you have the…
Much like my review for Out 1, I'll be updating this after each episode as opposed to trying to remember all of it at the end. Enjoy!
Part 1: The Punishment Begins
A fitting title for the beginning of this series as our lead character Franz is introduced. He is for lack of a better phrase a total piece of shit. Having spent the last 4 years in prison for killing his girlfriend, Fassbinder makes no illusions that this is someone we should root for. What strikes me immediately about this series is how it reminds me in a way of There Will Be Blood, in the sense that it follows a completely unlikable yet fascinating lead character. As a…
One does not simply walk into BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ.
This towering 15 1/2-hour all-or-nothing experience is something that every cinephile at some point needs to watch, digest, talk about, ruminate on, etc. I somehow managed to masochistically binge-watch it over the last 4 days, and I think that's the correct approach. If you're able to consume it under a shorter period, kudos to you, mostly because the film's hypnotic power grows on your ability to completely immerse yourself in, and endure, its sheer colossal length. The fact that it takes Fassbinder so long to tell this story ultimately becomes a theme itself. By repeating, prolonging, and stretching out scenes, Fassbinder milks what easily could've been told in 3-hours but would've lacked its…
weirdest development of my life this year was when i got absolutely hooked on berlin alexanderplatz and tried very hard to stay up and keep watching even tho i put it on right after taking nyquil. anyway, logging this on the day i finished (holy shite that epilogue), but i think i started it last wednesday?
‘blood must flow. blood must flow. rivers of blood must flow’
there is nothing i could possibly say that would be able to even superficially address all the turmoil of pain, immorality, injustice and emotional angst portrayed in this film, a nation’s state of spirit perfectly put into screen. the parables being constantly told over the reconstruction of the original murder, a broken rib, the serpent is not only in a man’s soul, but in everywhere surrounding him too, and what follows is guilt, punishment and death. for sometimes life is too short for the eternity of feelings.
‘there is no cause for despair. when i continue this tale, telling it to its bitter, frightful end i shall often use these words: no cause for despair’
Fassbinders “Megafilm” ist extrem anstrengend, aber auch ebenso lohnend, und entlädt sich in zwei grandiosen Episoden erst zum Ende der beinah fünfzehnstündigen Laufzeit. Selbst nach den Brechern Out 1 und Sátántangó die vielleicht zermürbendste Seherfahrung der letzten Monate. Insgesamt: 8,25/10.
A strange West German television series, showing the lowlife of Berlin as it was in 1928, all woven through and around the love between two people, a pimp trying to go straight, and a hooker, while the beginnings of Nazism flickers around the edges of the picture. An incredible experience, but not to all tastes, since this is a real combination of Brecht's social-commentary plays, Teutonic romanticism, and scummy criminal-world scenes of the worst kind, and all the more alien because of the setting. Fassbinder seems to find fascination in showing the nobility of the lowest classes, much like Brecht, or Kurt Weil in the Three-Penny Opera. The television series received both high praise and the worst panning. We liked it, but you should make up your own mind on this one. In German, with subtitles.
Long and extremely depressing at times, but ultimately very rewarding for those who watch the entire film.
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