Rainer Werner Fassbinder's claustrophobic look at a lesbian relationship is stilted, harsh, staged and cold. It's emotionless facade only broken to show bitterness, jealousy, rage or hatred. It's unflattering look at females says more about Fassbinder himself than it does about relationships of any kind, lesbian or otherwise.

Fassbinder shows his hand from the first frame. A static shot of lazy cats on a staircase (a feminine symbol?) stays for several moments as the entire credits (there are no end credits) role before our eyes. Fassbinder calls the film "ein krankheitsfall" (a case history) as if this story had any basis in reality. It seems more like one of Fassbinder's own real relationships twisted into a lesbian storyline than something that actually happened as it is shown. Many, in fact, say this is so and reading about Fassbinder, one would have to believe it!

After the credits finally cease, Fassbinder's camera, aided by Director of Photography Michael Ballhaus, pulls back to reveal a huge wall covering that looks like the work of Michelangelo (it may very well be). The soft round images of the naked man and woman in the reproduced painting offer a sharp juxtaposition to the thin, creased, linear characters we get in the film. This is the only softness in the film and it is relegated to a two-dimensional rendering in the background. It's importance is overblown making it seem unreal and impossible. Watching the characters move in front of it is just the first in many of Fassbinder's counterbalances.

The entire film takes place in the bedroom/office of fashion designer Petra Von Kant (Margit Cartensen). Because of her business, the room is filled with naked mannequins. Fassbinder uses these objects purposefully. Notice how they appear in almost every shot, balancing the human characters in the film. Fassbinder shows us these cold, emotion-less, motion-less dummies and then overlaps them with his cold, emotion-less characters that only move a little bit more than their phony counterparts. Fassbinder's actresses (there are only female characters in the film) seem to be instructed to move like robots themselves. Their moves are so coldly orchestrated and choreographed that one thinks they are watching some sort of avant-garde ballet and not a film with a plot. The attention to detail here is intense. Each movement, down to the slightest tilt of the head, seems to be pre-ordained by Fassbinder to allow the character's stoic facades to appear as window displays. It is always hard to tell the mannequins from the actual performers here. When Cartensen first appears, Fassbinder makes his intentions obvious. She has a cold, plastic look to her face, as if she has just been cast in some plasticine factory. She soon after puts on a wig, covering what little hair she has like a window dresser would a bald mannequin. It speaks volumes about Von Kant and about Fassbinder's intentions here. It is no surprise that this piece began as a stage play. The set here becomes a show place of non-emotions. A window display of bitterness.

The story we get is a sloppy, stylized soap opera that is hardly worth watching. The plot is as sickening as the way Fassbinder treats his characters. The dialogue the characters mouth is as futile and as masked as the character's true selves. Yet we must delve only slightly to understand what is really being said because the character's intentions here are pretty clear. We see Von Kant try to seduce the seemingly naive Karin (Hanna Schygulla) and we know that Karin sees this too. Ultimately, there is a lot of talk about the dynamics of relationships and how brutal and emotionless they can be. There is also some sort of sado-masochistic, domination sub-text that seems as jaded as it sounds. Eventually, it seems as if it would be no surprise if all of the characters suddenly appeared in glossy, black, studded, leather costumes. In fact, it's kind of surprising when Fassbinder doesn't do this.

Von Kant is a horrible and disgusting centerpiece to the film. Like a bowl of rotting fruit, we see her deteriorate before our very eyes. We are only slightly surprised when her crusty exterior is broken by her overwhelming desire for the younger Karin. When this fascination turns to sickening obsession and the seemingly naive Karin turns the tables on Von Kant, it is like exposing the slimy slugs that live under a large, hard, gray rock. When Von Kant finally admits that it isn't love she has for Karin but a desire to posses her, we see her clearly and we know she is right.

Other characters slither between the twosome adding to the disgust. Irm Herrmann is particularly eerie as Marlene, Von Kant's oft mistreated maid-servant. Herrmann speaks no lines here and looks much like one of Von Kant's mannequins brought to life only to serve her. Fassbinder, wisely, only hints at what ties these women together. One keeps expecting some sort of revelation about their relationship and yet the one that we do get at the film's end is nothing like the one we expect. It ends the film on a strange and disturbing note.

Meanwhile, Katrin Shaake (Sidonie) and Gisela Fackelday (Momma) have a few moments that add to Von Kant's harshness. As does Eva Mattes as Gaby, Von Kant's distanced daughter. The true interesting part of this, however, is the behind the scenes knowledge that Mattes, some 12 years later, portrayed a Fassbinder-like character in the film "A Man Like Eva" after the director's death. Compared to her later appearance, she seems so young here.

Fassbinder constructs a sterile world for his film. The claustrophobic sets personify the emotionless nature of the characters and the script. The lack of music, except when Von Kant puts one of her favorite tunes on a record player, makes the film seem even more stagnant. This absence of sound is all to stifling and adds to the constrictions that hem in the film. Finally, Fassbinder's linear feel to the film, which somehow reminds one of the way Alfred Hitchcock filmed "Rope," adds the final touch to this other worldliness we get here. It's as if Fassbinder wanted to construct a alternate universe, one much too similar to his own, where the absence of anything but hatred, bitterness and domination permeates all existence. The void created here is a cinematic marvel, but it's hell to witness. The lack of movement, absence of sound, and plodding pace are very hard to endure. Only a dedicated viewer can handle a film this intense. For those who do have the determination, the payoff may be rewarding. but I would guess that most, like myself, will find little to like here, except, perhaps, for Fassbinder's style.

Note: In German with Subtitles.

The play was subtitled "Real Feelings." It is said to be based upon Fassbinder's relationship with Gunther Kaufmann, a lower class Bavarian who was his first real love.

Fassbinder appears in a newspaper photo in the film ala Hitchcock.

The film is "dedicated to someone who became another Marlene."

Salem El Hedi, who was one of Fassbinder's male lovers, is a production assistant here. As always, Fassbinder uses many in his inner circle in the film. Most of those in the film appeared in many Fassbinder films. It was his wont to have a company of actors around him at all times as the man made 41 films in less than 18 years. Much of this is documented in Robert Katz's biography of Fassbinder, "Love is Colder than Death."

Review written in 1995

Report Card Script: D Acting: B+ Cinematography\Lighting: B+ Special Effects\Make Up: D- Music: A+ Final Grade: D

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