In a career spanning a mere sixteen years, Rainer Werner Fassbinder made forty-four films before his death at just thirty-six, which occurred a few months after the premiere of this, the final part of what has come to be designated as his BRD Trilogy.
It is beautifully written by his regular collaborators Peter Marthesheimer and Pea Froelich, shot in knife-like black and white by his preferred cinematographer Xavier Schwarzenberger and as one would expect from this director, features a strong leading role for an actress, in this case Rosel Zech, whose character is loosely based upon that of the fascinating but tragic Sybille Schmitz who despite never being fully accepted by Herr Goebbels and company found it virtually impossible to continue her post-war career because of her perceived Nazi connections and whose drug-fuelled downward spiral ended in suicide in 1955.
Zech is simply stupendous in a demanding role that requires a wide range of emotions and as a bonus she performs a beguiling, Dietrich-like rendition of 'Memories are made of this." As a lesbian Dr. Feel-good, there is a magnificently chilling performance by Annemarie Dueringer. The entire cast is uniformly excellent and all of the characters are well drawn. Armin Mueller-Stahl again makes his presence felt whilst the influence of America in the Germany of the time is epitomised by the sound
track and not least by the presence of the ubiquitous African-American GI played as always by Guenter Kaufmann. As well as being a tribute to the mighty UFA Studios, the relationship between fading star Voss and the journalist of Hilmar Thate is a nod to 'Sunset Boulevard'.
There is an absence of socio-political comment here and the whole enterprise succeeds solely through the myths of the movies. Fassbinder was an avowed devotee of the dream factory that was Hollywood and professed his adoration for Douglas Sirk. As it happened the master long outlived the pupil and Sirk offered a fitting tribute:"Although his fims were controversial.....only those things that survive opposition have the power of permanence."
