Drab and bitter, Fassbinder's "Bolweiser" was originally a television "miniseries" (around 200 minutes) on German TV. One feels fortunate to have this unflinching angst edited down to just under 2 hours for us. Fassbinder's claustrophobic, misogynistic, lifeless film is devoid of anything likable. The characters, the plot, the colors, the sets, and the costumes all grate on our nerves making us wonder why we felt it necessary to submit to this cinematic torture. And yet, for all of this, one cannot help but want to see where it goes next.

Fassbinder's film is about a woman (Elisabeth Trissenaar) who dominates the men in her life. Her hen-pecked husband and her two lovers all revolve around her as if she were some sort of black hole consistently sucking them into her void. The most pathetic of these is also the one most concentrated upon, the husband, played wonderfully by Kurt Raab. It is impossible to figure out all of the nuances and subtextural elements going on here yet one cannot help but be drawn into the film by Raab's vanquished anti-hero. Even when he finds a moment to be forceful and commanding, it is negated by Trissenaar's domineering, which is sometimes subtle, sometimes overwrought. Both of these actor's take the demure angst of the film to the zenith of it's possibilities and force us to endure their lackluster and humorless marriage. That there may be a chance that it could all work out at one point, when Trissenaar's Hanni realizes that it is her love of fooling around on Bolweiser that makes her come to life in the bedroom with him, is what makes the degradation of their relationship all the more troubling. We never understand the motivations for these characters and we cannot understand why they allow themselves to blindside and cross each other. Eventually when they do find a path to some sort of tortures happiness, it is one of her "lovers" who ruins what little bliss they can eek out of their relationship.

Fassbinder films the piece with his usual choreographed ennui. His use of exacting movement within a rather confined space (as in "The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant") is nothing short of masterful. The dance these actors do within their scenes is only a mirroring of the dancing their characters are doing emotionally within the plot. Fassbinder obscures our vision into the piece, making it even more uncertain and more convoluted, when he uses cut glass and sheer curtains to block out part of what the camera sees. Nothing is clear cut here. We look in on the characters through half-opened windows and we see them through mirrored images of themselves. We never see anyone truly open and unencumbered here. The joy of the dance is shaded by human emotions, communal gossiping and the mores of the time. 

What is apparent in the film is Fassbinder's misogyny. The characters say lines like, "Women are to blame for everything" and "One of them can ruin 10 men and still survive." It's obvious that Hanni is the villain here. But Fassbinder does not make the men immaculate. Each of them is a fool and obviously not worthy because they allow this woman, this confused vixen, to subjugate them.

"Bolweiser" is a cinematic headache. Fassbinder doesn't want us to enjoy ourselves watching the film. He even puts a subdued yet grating shrieking bird in the film to continually irritate us. It's agitating and cruel. And yet for all of this obvious displeasure, we are somehow drawn into the film. Too bad that the payoff isn't really worth it. Fassbinder's film drags on much too long and the final twist is no twist at all. For even though Bolweiser has lost his precious Hanni, we know he is much better off without her. We only hope he will eventually see it too. Like Fassbinder's film, this hope is probably futile.

Note: In German with subtitles. As viewed on the Independent Film Channel. The print I watched had a few glitches and subtitles that seemed to continually drift to the right.

Also with Udo Kier and Volker Spengler. Music by Peer Rabin. Script by Fassbinder based on a novel by Oskar Maria Graf.

Fassbinder convinced Raab to try cocaine and had him act the entire role under the influence of the drug. Raab later considered his performance stiffened by this but many critics considered it his best work. Raab also worked behind the scenes of the film and later many producers thought he had stolen money. Fassbinder made him sign a confession admitting this. This ruined Raab's career and he never acted in a Fassbinder film again. He remained in the director's stable, however, as the "maid" to the troop. Fassbinder's nickname for him was "Emma."

The US release was edited by Fassbinder and released here a few years after it's showing on German TV.

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