bobr (08/14/82)
Fassbinder's "LOLA" opened Friday night in Toronto. It had
actually been showing in Germany for more than a year (or so I'm told),
but then I guess it takes a while till European artsie movies come to
this continent. <Flame off>
Together with "The Marriage of Maria Braun" and the yet to be released
"Despair of Veronika Voss", LOLA is part of a trilgy about post-war Germany.
While "Maria Braun" covers the somewhat anarchic pioneer years from
1945 to 1954 by telling the story about a woman's career and her quest for
psychological self-reliance, LOLA is static in time; it plays in 1957.
This, however, is just one of the statements Fassbinder makes about post-war
Germany : the period from 1954 until 1968 (when the students took to the
streets and helped the social democrats to power) was essentially static.
LOLA's plot revolves about an "old-fashioned"-moralist building commisioner,
a ruthless but honestly ruthless and vital contractor, and a whore who
works in the poshest brothel of the town - in some sense it is a takeoff
on the "Blue Angel".
The photography is great, so are all the other technical aspects of the
movie. Everything just fits. The plot moves fast, the dialogues are witty,
but the depiction of people (and hence the statement about the climate
of the Germany of the economic miracle) are always more important than the
straight plot.
The way Fassbinder treats his characters is almost gentle, he simply shows
them as they are. This lack of apparent intention to "get a point across"
is one of the great strenghts os the movie, together with an appropriate
dose of lightheartedness (and the superior artistic quality of the movie).
LOLA is highly recommended, and I can't wait to see the third part
of the trilogy.
Christoph Bobrowski
utzoo!utcsrgv!bobr
P.S. The three parts of the trilogy are self-contained, their plots have
nothing in common.