User Reviews

The Merchant of Four Seasons established a number of trademarks, both visual and thematic, that would become further refined and much more expressive in the Fassbinder films to follow. Here, for example, we see the action unfold through the eyes of a tortured anti-hero and his literally abused wife, as they strive to put aside petty differences, the ghosts of the past and the animosity of friends, family and neighbours, in an attempt to overcome the monotonous misery of everyday life. However, as with most Fassbinder films, the daily grind often ends up being too severe - and generally things never go to plan - leaving most of the characters feeling damaged, depressed, worthless or worse. With that in mind, it would be easy to dismiss Fassbinder's work as nothing more than misanthropic self-pity, yet to do so would require us to disregard the three-dimensional characters, the meaningful dialog and the heart that seems to beat at the centre of all of his films.

Unlike many other director's who have mined the social-realist path, Fassbinder never looks down on his characters to gloat or heap scorn, and instead, seems to have a genuine warmth and love for then. That said, he respects the fact that such real-life archetypes can often fall foul of the system, ending up as nothing more than damaged shells forced to enter into a downward spiral that takes time, faith and self-belief to truly escape from. The central notion of The Merchant of Four Seasons then, involves a character that has fallen into one such spiral that has crushed his very will to escape. So, like the characters in later works like Fox and his Friends, Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven and In A Year With 13 Moons, Hans Epp becomes a character that has, through circumstance and upbringing, been led towards an ultimate downfall that he both accepts and embraces. As you can imagine from such a bare-bones description, The Merchant of Four Seasons is bleak stuff, offering an honest and at times rather ugly depiction of failure, despair, contempt and alienation.

Fassbinder attempts a purposely fractured narrative with The Merchant of Four Seasons, beginning the film with a scene in which Hans returns from a stint in the Foreign Legion. He expects a heroes welcome, but instead, is chastised by his mother for waking her up at such an ungodly hour, before lamenting the fact that the young man dragged along by Hans to fight by his side has been killed, whilst her errant son has returned ("the good die young, and people like you come back" she says, before closing the door in his face). The scene establishes the relationship between Hans and his mother perfectly, and will go some lengths towards explaining Hans's often quite violent relationship with his own wife Irmgard. Later scenes, presented in similarly fragmented flashbacks, inform us of Hans's past as a promising scholar before he dropped out to join the Legion, his dismissal from the police force after accepting sexual favours from a prostitute, the humiliation in the eyes of his family and friends of having to become a common fruit vendor, and his inability to woo the great love of his life.

Like many of Fassbinder's key characters, Hans remains a tragic anti-hero. On the one hand we feel pity (and to some extent empathy) for this short, overweight character, so unfortunate in life that he's even ended up married to a tall slender woman who's very appearance can only exaggerate his physical shortcomings, but at the same time he comes across as quite vile and detestable. The scene in which the drunken Hans viciously beats his wife - whilst his young daughter tries desperately to protect her mother - is captured in a static medium shot that goes on for so long that the actions run from the heartbreaking, to the comedic, to the tragic and beyond!! Even when Hans seems to be getting his life back together, finally winning the respect of his family and even establishing a successful working relationship with his old Legion pal Harry, there's still something missing. Fassbinder's point seems to be that the failures of our early life can only dictate the direction of our adult life, whilst one scene in particular, in which Hans's daughter Renate asks her aunt Anna if her father is going to die, seems to sum up the soul of the film perfectly, with Anna replying "he will live as long as he wants to live".

Ultimately, The Merchant of Four Seasons is a film about a character resigned to a life from which there is no escape... a life in which his very presence is enough to poison the lives of those around him!! Hans Hirschmüller's performance as the tragic Hans is exceptional stuff, managing to elicit a degree of sympathy for this dark and complicated character. As great as Hirschmüller is, he is far eclipsed by Fassbinder regular Irm Hermann, who offers a touching and sympathetic performance as Hans's loveless and equally complex wife. Further support is offered by Hanna Schygulla, Klaus Löwitsch, Ingrid Caven and Kurt Raab... though the film belongs to Fassbinder, who here begins to develop the style that would later lead to masterworks like The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Fear Eats the Soul, Fox and His Friends, The Marriage of Maria Braun and In A Year With 13 Moons. Though perhaps too morose and continually bleak for some viewers, The Merchant of Four Seasons remains an intelligent, honest and subtly affecting look at failure, alienation and despair.

Ostensibly, Hans ' isolation and despair are caused by a stereotypically frigid bourgeois mother, a nagging wife, and a lover's rejection. And despite the complex portrayal--Hans himself doesn't precisely make these claims--the above must be a substantial part of Fassbinder's thinking as well (his use of Freud and Marx). But the viewer may look no further than Hans' gender and sexism to locate the truer cause of his crushed spirit.

First, it's highly unlikely that his mother's lack of love pushed him into signing up with the Foreign Legion. It was far more likely, and is in part indicated, that it was a quest for adventure, male camaraderie (escape from the female world of mother and sister) and male identity itself-- which both the Legion and war offered.

Second, Hans loses his successful job as a policeman because of his own sexism. By falling for a prostitute's wiles at work, he not only rubber stamps prostitution as an oppressive institution, but shows that he cannot even control his sexuality in a professional arena--and is even willing to jeopardize a desirable career.

Third, he commits serious verbal abuse against his wife in front of his sheep-like male buddies, making no distinction at all between her absence or--when she shows up looking for him--presence. In fact, he is more brutal in her presence.

A few hours later, in a violent and drunken state, he beats his wife in front of their daughter, who intervenes on her mother's behalf. The terror he instills in her and his daughter are palpable. But both he--and the audience--move on with nary a whimper of conscience or protest. Why? Because his wife is cruelly characterized as both nagging and sexually promiscuous (yes, this this may be Fassbinder's view of what capitalism does to women--owned, insecure, and a commodity--but this hardly absolves Hans' brutality nor Fassbinder's exploitation of her in the battery scene).

And then there is this male role pressure, which Hans could choose to reject and protest, but instead accepts. He's too short for a male and too un-heroic to achieve the worldly success the male role recommends. But how can these be causes of despair when he not only gains his lost love as a mistress but marries a tall woman who is considerably more attractive than himself., Finally, Hans allows Harry, his war comrade, to remain, over his wife's convincing plea to the contrary, on in their house. By this decision, he not only makes it clear that he is more tied to Harry than to his wife, but that male bonding supersedes his love of women. And supersedes, in the end, his own life, because it is Harry's superior competence and spirit around the house that causes Hans' star to fall. Hans, the merchant, may be to a degree, the victim of capitalism, but more to the point, he is the victim of his own allegiance to his own male identity. His inability to let it go, is the ultimate cause for his isolation and despair.

This is something that is lost, I think, not only on Fassbinder, but also on Han's sister, Anna--although, only to a degree lost. For Anna's (and Fassbinder's) support of her brother--over her mother, only goes so far. She is quite insistent that only he can save himself--that her support and love cannot it itself end his self-loathing. Unfortunately, she does not offer any of this same support and love for his wife who must be much more embittered than Hans but, who in the end, is able to pick up the pieces, and save herself and daughter, and present a marked contrast to Han's fall.

This 1971 film would be the turning point in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's career. A scathing portrait of a man crushed by societal pressures. The film purposely mixes 1970's with 1950's Germany in which the story takes place.

Fassbinder also applies his staged and often stilted style which actually works in the film's favor. His two leading actors are outstanding, Hans Hirschmüller and Irm Hermann manage to push beyond the artifice to something very real.

It has been said that much of this film's success is owed to Fassbinder's inspiration ultimate meeting with Douglas Sirk. While this may be the case, this film is astoundingly unique. The director would go on to make even more potent films, but this was the first fully-formed vision.

A film not to be missed.

I have to say in general I may not be the very biggest fan of German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, but here I kinda liked his work I guess. There are some films of his I really like ("Angst essen Seele auf", "Martha"), but also a large part of his body of work did little to nothing for me. "Händler der vier Jahreszeiten" or "The Merchant of Four Seasons" is among his earlier, but not first works and looking at how he was only in his mid-20s when he made this film, it is an impressive achievement taking that into account. A wild new generation of cinema we have here, even if it is not so obvious by today's standards as the film is of course 45 years old now already. And Fassbinder's work was also honored on several occasions here, for example by winning the grand prize at the German Film Awards that year. The two lead actors were honored too and three of the supporting cast received nominations. The only one who is absolutely deserving of all the attention is Hans Hirschmüller in my opinion. His lead performance is the heart and soul of this work here. And it helps that he is in so many scenes as he carries the action nicely and even when he isn't, every scene probably still has an impact on his character. A bit sad that he has not really been that prolific in the last 30 years or just appeared in minor projects and roles. As for the action in this one here, it is okay and interesting, but not among Fassbinder's very finest. I think a lot of the film's success is due to Hirschmüller's great performance. But this film is also once again about people talking about other people, usually in derogatory ways as it was so common back then and still is today. The costume design and sets reminds strongly of Mad Men. Those were the days that the series is portraying and Germany did not look entirely different compared to the United States. All in all, this relatively short Fassbinder film (stays easily under 90 minutes) is worth checking out. I give it a thumbs up.

I read about this film before watching it, so I knew what would happen before I saw it. Nonetheless, this film had an effect on me.

First, the lead character Hans amazingly looked so much like soccer great Diego Maradona. I was trying to place his face and then Maradona's face came to mind. Anyway, the protagonist seemed really down on life because of little or no support from either his wife or family, with the exception of his sister, who seemed just a little caring.

Hans makes a modest living selling fruit on a cart and going from apartment complex to apartment complex to do so. Neither his wife nor mother approve of his job, and he was fired from his job as a cop after getting serviced by a prostitute who was under arrest. The story seems a real downer as just about everything that can go wrong does for this guy.

I will say the acting is rather rigid but perhaps that is characteristic of German society, esp. back then. I was surprised at the moments of emotion, like when the wife suggests getting someone to help them sell the fruit.

As for the ending, this is my take on this. Hans knows that he is a burden on his family, so after seeing that his war buddy is good with his wife and daughter as well as the busy, Hans drinks knowing full well that he will die. He figures he will get out of the picture to allow his wife and buddy to be together and such. So perhaps his act of suicide stemmed not just from his desire to live no longer, but also to leave his family in a better position, not to mention the woman he was cheating with. Others might disagree, but perhaps that is his one final act of good for the world before he leaves it.

Overall, I'd say this film will stay with me (and help me to stay off booze).

Like Margot in "Fear of Fear" falls victim of her ambitious husband, like Fox in "Fox and his friends" is driven into suicide by his boyfriend who took all his money away, like Xaverl Bolwieser in "The Stationsmaster's Wife" who goes to prison in order to give his cheating wife a chance to get rid of him, like Hermann Hermann who seeks refuge in insanity in order to flee his stupid wife and bankrupt company, so also Hans Epp is a victim of the German "Wirtschaftswunder"-Society after World War II in R.W. Fassbinder's "The Merchant of the Four Seasons". Simply from the fact that Fassbinder played through social abuse between men and women as well as between hetero- and homosexual couples, it should be clear that he does not favorize any sex.

In Hans Epp's case there are the women who drive him into despair, illness and finally death. When he comes back from the Foreign Legion where he flew because he could not stand anymore the pressure of his mother, she complains that he is still alive while the good boy from her neighbor had been killed. Then Hans gets a job as a policeman, but is surprised by his foreman while he is seduced by a prostitute. After having lost his job, he works as a fruit-merchant with little income, going from backyard to backyard "crying out" his produce. His mother, one of his sisters and her husband are ashamed to have such a "street-worker" in their family. "The love of his life" (she has no name in the movie) refuses to marry him because his job does not fit together with her social status and origin. So he marries Irmgard whom he does not love and who does not love him. From her constant pressure on him he flees into drinking. One evening, after his wife was stalking him, he explodes and hits her. She flees to her family for which this event was just what they have been waiting for. When Irmgard is calling a lawyer for divorce, Hans suffers a heart attack. Imrgard decides to stay with him, but from now on, he is not allowed anymore to do heavy work and to drink alcohol. So he starts to feel more and more superfluous, gets quieter and quieter and more and more depressive. When he finds out that Irmgard cheats him, he chooses to end his life, but not like Hermann Hermann by having a trip into the light of madness, but he drinks himself to death in front of Imrgard, their little daughter and his boozing buddies. Fassbinder said in an interview that Hans knew what he was doing. The question, however is: Did Hans just kill himself because he could not stand anymore his miserable environment, or did he make self-justice?

It's a gloomy drama set in early 1950s Munich, Germany. It follows a depressed alcoholic street vendor and his relationships with his wife, daughter, and family of birth.

Initially, Hans Epp (Hans Hirschmüller) was a policeman dismissed for accepting favors from a prostitute. Then, he served in the French Foreign Legion for several years, during which he experienced a life-altering crisis. After he returned to Munich, he became a fruit vendor from a street cart. This lowly job disgusts the rest of his family, including his mother (Gusti Kreissl) and sisters. One sister (Heide Simon) is married to a newspaper publisher (Kurt Raab), and the other is a professional translator (Hanna Schygulla).

Hans is married to Irmgard (Irm Hermann), and they have a daughter, Renate (Andrea Schober). However, Hans and Irmgard's relationship is tenuous because Hans' first love (Ingrid Caven) could not marry him because of his lowly work situation. The film follows Hans from drunken misbehavior, through a physical crisis, to a long siege of depression that no one near him can help ameliorate.

"The Merchant of Four Seasons" is a bleak film, as one might expect from Fassbinder. This movie is his first commercial success. Some of the acting seems subprime, but the storyline is compelling. Hans' actions as his depression increases seem realistic.