"Angst essen Seele auf" or "Fear Eats the Soul" is a German movie from over 40 years ago written and directed by one of the most controversial filmmakers of the 1970s, Rainer Werner Fassbinder. This is probably my favorite work from him, even if I like "Martha" a lot as well. This one here is probably also the film of his that is the most accessible in terms of the contents. It is a very human tale. A lady in her early 60s falls in love with an immigrant 25 younger than her and we watch their struggles for most of the film. The struggles, however, have nothing to do with the relationship itself, but all come from the outside with the despicable reactions from neighbors, colleagues and even family.
The movie only runs for slightly over 90 minutes, so it is among Fassbinder's shorter works, but that takes nothing from how effective it is. You can easily divide it into two parts as almost everything changes when they return from a holiday that makes me think what exactly happened during that holiday. Mira's character has turned almost into one of the people she despised before because of their approach to the whole matter of falling in love with an immigrant. As a consequence, Ali withdraws considerably from her and has sex with the woman he slept with before he met the old woman. The ending is uplifting again, at least in terms of their relationship. It would not be Fassbinder if everything was happy again for everybody, so another tragic even occurs, one that puts a severe question mark on the whole matter of age being in the way of love. A great statement by the filmmaker and I also liked his approach on the idea that Mira's character's love can still exist and how it does not matter to her (or him) that he slept with somebody else. It's not about other people they are seeing. It is about the respect they have for one another and there are really sad scenes about said respect involving couscous and Ali's colleagues beforehand.
"Angst essen Seele auf" won an award in Cannes and it also gave Brigitte Mira a German Film Award for her excellent portrayal. No offense to El Hedi ben Salem, but he was mostly memorable in here through his physical presence and not through great acting. Mira carries the film from start to finish. The supporting actors play their parts well too, obviously helped through Fassbinder's excellent script. The scenes with her colleagues (first with her being the victim, then with somebody else being the victim and her being one of the offenders), at the little shop next door (including the legendary Walter Sedlmayer) or also at the pub and with her family were all mesmerizing to watch. Fassbinder himself plays one of the supporting characters as well, as often the case in his films. He is also a gifted actor. The male lead was played by his then-boyfriend. Sadly the two split up not much later and El Hedi ben Salem died only 2 years after this film an untimely death just like Fassbinder's in the early 80s. This adds another interesting note to the film as Mira lived for 3 more decades and died way into her 90s only 10 years ago.
All in all, this film is a great way to start Fassbinder in my opinion if you want to watch some of his works. It's certainly an easier watch than almost all of his other works. The action is very dialogue-driven, but the contents in terms of what happens still bring lots of significance and gravity. I am glad this film received the recognition it did back then and is still considered one of the best German films from the 1970s these days. Of course, I cannot say for sure how exaggerated the xenophobia in this movie is or if it was really like that in the 1970s as I was not yet born back then, but even in the unlikely event that it may not be 100% accurate from a historic perspective, it is so well-written and a truly outstanding character study down to the less significant characters. I highly recommend checking it out, especially in the face of the refugee situation in Germany right now. A must-see.
The movie only runs for slightly over 90 minutes, so it is among Fassbinder's shorter works, but that takes nothing from how effective it is. You can easily divide it into two parts as almost everything changes when they return from a holiday that makes me think what exactly happened during that holiday. Mira's character has turned almost into one of the people she despised before because of their approach to the whole matter of falling in love with an immigrant. As a consequence, Ali withdraws considerably from her and has sex with the woman he slept with before he met the old woman. The ending is uplifting again, at least in terms of their relationship. It would not be Fassbinder if everything was happy again for everybody, so another tragic even occurs, one that puts a severe question mark on the whole matter of age being in the way of love. A great statement by the filmmaker and I also liked his approach on the idea that Mira's character's love can still exist and how it does not matter to her (or him) that he slept with somebody else. It's not about other people they are seeing. It is about the respect they have for one another and there are really sad scenes about said respect involving couscous and Ali's colleagues beforehand.
"Angst essen Seele auf" won an award in Cannes and it also gave Brigitte Mira a German Film Award for her excellent portrayal. No offense to El Hedi ben Salem, but he was mostly memorable in here through his physical presence and not through great acting. Mira carries the film from start to finish. The supporting actors play their parts well too, obviously helped through Fassbinder's excellent script. The scenes with her colleagues (first with her being the victim, then with somebody else being the victim and her being one of the offenders), at the little shop next door (including the legendary Walter Sedlmayer) or also at the pub and with her family were all mesmerizing to watch. Fassbinder himself plays one of the supporting characters as well, as often the case in his films. He is also a gifted actor. The male lead was played by his then-boyfriend. Sadly the two split up not much later and El Hedi ben Salem died only 2 years after this film an untimely death just like Fassbinder's in the early 80s. This adds another interesting note to the film as Mira lived for 3 more decades and died way into her 90s only 10 years ago.
All in all, this film is a great way to start Fassbinder in my opinion if you want to watch some of his works. It's certainly an easier watch than almost all of his other works. The action is very dialogue-driven, but the contents in terms of what happens still bring lots of significance and gravity. I am glad this film received the recognition it did back then and is still considered one of the best German films from the 1970s these days. Of course, I cannot say for sure how exaggerated the xenophobia in this movie is or if it was really like that in the 1970s as I was not yet born back then, but even in the unlikely event that it may not be 100% accurate from a historic perspective, it is so well-written and a truly outstanding character study down to the less significant characters. I highly recommend checking it out, especially in the face of the refugee situation in Germany right now. A must-see.