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When Rainer Werner Fassbinder
died at age 37 in 1982,

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he left us 44 films and TV series.

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What counts is the body of work
you bequeath, he believed.

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It must say something about the era
it was made in, or it's worthless.

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His films touch on the greatest
fears and taboos of Germans.

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No other German director
was as productive,

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controversial and obsessive
as Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

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My goal is to make films
that are perfect,

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that are indistinguishable from French,
Italian or American films,

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but that remain personal reflections
of their maker

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and cannot be mistaken
for anyone else's work.

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I knew I'd make films. I knew it...

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from the age of 12.

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For me it was just a matter of time.

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I did various things,

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a little acting, a little writing.

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Ravioli!

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I spent two years in drama school.

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Filmmaking was what I knew least about,
so I liked it best.

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That's the backstory.

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I'm used to a big camera.
I haven't mastered this small one yet.

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Voila!

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He'd die laughing to see me now.

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- Lucy!
- I'll empty the water.

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- What water?
- That water.

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You're lying. Come closer.

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What did you want?
Stand up for yourself. Look at me.

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I remember we had to perform
these exercises at school.

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ACTRESS

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What school?

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It was a private school
where I ended up by chance.

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I didn't know
I wanted to become an actress.

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Then I noticed this boy.

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Somehow he was both touching
and intimidating at the same time.

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Both vulnerable and...

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predatory, rapacious.

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He was this mixture...

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Everything he did,
he did unlike anyone else.

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I met Fassbinder through a friend

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who was at drama school with him.

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She said to me,

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ACTRESS

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"There's an actor coming over,
Rainer Werner Fassbinder...

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to do a kind of reading.

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Want to come?"

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I remember he smoked 100 cigarettes

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and read from a novel.
I was electrified.

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Whatever hurts me feels good.

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How many people came?

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Maybe three.

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And what was so electrifying?

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The focus, the intensity,
with which he read...

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It electrified me.
It was completely new to me.

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A few weeks later, Christoph Roser
called me at the office where I worked

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and said, "You see,

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Rainer would like to...
He's shooting a short film...

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We have no money, we're very sorry..."
But would I act in it?

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I thought I'd pass out.
I was completely rattled. And...

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Why?

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I was so excited. It was all new.
I felt out of my depth.

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But we shot it,

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and from that moment on
I was under his spell.

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- Really?
- Yes!

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The way he talked to me,

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told me to do this, do that,
and demonstrating...

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He showed me how to deliver
each of my lines.

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And it was more intimate
than anything I'd done.

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It was amazing.

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No one had ever spoken to me
like that before.

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Not as he did.
It was absolutely unique.

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Then he moved into my apartment.

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I was with him day and night.

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It was exhausting.
We never went to bed before 4am.

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We never slept
more than three or four hours.

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We were always on the move.

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We saw all the American B movies.
Four a day.

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Then we'd go to a bar.

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We'd drink Coke.
Fassbinder drank no alcohol then.

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- Only tea or Coke.
- Really?

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Yes. For years. It wasn't until '74
and the Theater am Turm

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that he used alcohol or drugs.

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In '67 I met a fellow student
from drama school

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who said she was playing Antigone
at the Action-Theater,

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and that I should come and see it.

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As it turned out,

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I was standing at the bar
after the performance,

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and the director, Peer Raben,
joined me.

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He said he was looking for actors
with a Bavarian accent, and...

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we decided we'd see
how well we worked together.

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He had someone drop off
a note in my mailbox.

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I don't know if it was his handwriting.
I hadn't seen much of his writing.

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All it said was,

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"Do you want to play Antigone?
The premiere is in two days."

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It went really fast.

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You had to play both Antigone
and in the chorus.

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In the chorus you just copied
what the others did.

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And then in your moment as Antigone,

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you weren't told much more than,
"Do what you want...

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And you can do very little, too.
That also works."

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Who was directing?

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Peer Raben.

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Yes, he was really...

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the most important one there.

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He was...
Later he did lots of music,

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but at times he was also
Fassbinder's lover.

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I was overcome with ecstasy
in the moment -

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the ecstasy of acting, I mean -

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as soon as the spotlight fell upon me,

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and I suddenly realized, "Right!

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That's just the feeling
I've been looking for!"

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From then on I was part of it.

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They moved, suddenly
called themselves Antiteater.

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ASSISTANT DIRECTOR/ACTOR

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They had a play,
The Beggar's Opera.

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There was a drummer in it
who would beat his drum

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and say a few lines.
That was my in.

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I'd never heard of Fassbinder.

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The first time I saw him

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he was bent over laughing
at my performance.

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Because I spoke extremely slowly

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and looked like,
the revolution incarnate...

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moustache, sideburns, leather coat.
Like from the Gestapo.

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He'd just sit there
bent over laughing with Hanna.

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It never occurred to me
that they were laughing about me.

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In the meantime,
for my parents' sake,

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I was continuing my studies.

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They would've worried.

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With Fassbinder of all people!

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- Why?
- He was the bogeyman.

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Really?

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He was the bogeyman
of the middle class.

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I used to write short theatre and film
reviews for a Hamburg paper.

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ACTOR/DIRECTOR

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And I was sitting there

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in what was half theatre, half bar...

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He hung out there.
I thought, who is that?

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He looked like some guy
who'd just dropped by...

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But then he became, in fact,

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the central figure of the Action-Theater.

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He can do anything.
He'd be excellent as von Schmettwitz.

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He's only directing.

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The major is forceful.

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He imposes his decisions.

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You have to play the way he wants,
not as you would.

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You could feel that he had begun

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to dominate the Action-Theater troupe.

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At one point I realized he was the engine
behind the whole thing.

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The way he directed...

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I'd always thought that Willi,
Peer Raben, was the boss.

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And he was at first,
but Rainer more or less took over.

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That's how society is.
Those in charge don't have the money

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so that everyone can be on the payroll.

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So almost everyone
also has to have a day job.

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Only a few of us are always available,
so we're the ones who are involved.

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Why do you call it Antiteater?

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Is it experimental, or anti-theatre?

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It's more than just anti-theatre.

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- Anti what?
- Oh, anti-state.

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Anti...

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Anti-violence, war...

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It was this grand longing

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to change this capitalist,
fascist, warmongering world.

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LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH

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He wanted to make films.
That was clear.

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And...

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It's about chance encounters.

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He met Ulli Lommel.

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And then they got money

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from an heiress to the Bosch fortune,
10,000 marks.

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I was very convincing

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when asking people for money

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because I was so convinced about him.

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I knew... I always said,
"He's a genius.

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He's a genius.
You have to give him money."

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- You knew that?
- I was certain of it, that he's a genius.

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Darling!

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- Can I help you?
- Do you have steel frames?

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- Steel frames?
- I don't...

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- Do they suit me?
- I don't know. Maybe.

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They're nice, yes.

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- Can I finally get help?
- Yes sir?

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- Just tell me if you have steel frames.
- I don't know.

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Wait your turn!

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- She only...
- Fine.

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I'm looking for a pair of round glasses,

186
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like the cop in Psycho has.

187
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The one who finds Janet Leigh's car.

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- You know?
- What lousy service!

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- I'm only human.
- Steel frames.

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- Steel frames!
- Yes.

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If you don't have those,
what do you have, doll?

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Our selection is limited.
We're a department store.

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Thanks a lot.

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I let him do whatever he wanted.

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Because of course I realized

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how far ahead of us he was creatively.

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It hadn't escaped my notice that...

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he had something.

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There was never any hesitation in him.

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Often I didn't understand
what he wanted.

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His stagings were so foreign to me.

202
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Even when it was about
nasty little backstabbers,

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he'd want to give it something

204
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that went above and beyond that.

205
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Maybe he'd have wanted
to make love stories

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if he'd experienced
that kind of thing himself.

207
00:13:09,881 --> 00:13:13,601
But there must have been
a lot of gaps to fill,

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00:13:13,721 --> 00:13:17,601
the absences
of the central figures in his life,

209
00:13:17,721 --> 00:13:20,961
his mother, his father and everyone...

210
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His mother?

211
00:13:26,241 --> 00:13:29,601
The way I saw his mother?

212
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I found Lilo...

213
00:13:32,041 --> 00:13:34,401
Of course it didn't escape me

214
00:13:34,521 --> 00:13:37,921
that we resembled each other a bit.

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00:13:38,041 --> 00:13:42,081
You can see it in this book
he made for her.

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And I saw it here.

217
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So there must have been something to it.

218
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And this book of his poems

219
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was also an act of tenderness
for his mother

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that was probably not possible
to express directly.

221
00:14:00,921 --> 00:14:03,641
Because first off she was aloof,

222
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and second always sick
and away in a sanatorium.

223
00:14:09,521 --> 00:14:13,601
Then she took a husband
who was never close to him.

224
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They constantly gave him money
to go to the cinema.

225
00:14:18,921 --> 00:14:21,241
And so the cineaste was born.

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00:14:22,201 --> 00:14:25,081
The 19th Berlin
International Film Festival

227
00:14:25,201 --> 00:14:29,161
presents the German feature film
Colder than Death.

228
00:14:31,041 --> 00:14:34,241
Eventually the film was finished.

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00:14:35,321 --> 00:14:41,441
We sent a rough cut without any sound
to the Berlinale,

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and it was invited
to the 1969 Berlin competition.

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This simply confirmed for us everything

232
00:14:49,961 --> 00:14:52,001
we'd hoped and expected.

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The deft camerawork
captures black and white contrasts

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while exploring every shade of gray

235
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from deepest dark
to blinding, dissolving white.

236
00:15:02,321 --> 00:15:06,081
- Mr Fassbinder, good luck with your film.
- Thanks.

237
00:15:07,081 --> 00:15:10,721
It'll be quick,
simple and unconventional.

238
00:15:12,041 --> 00:15:14,001
- Bye, Mr Fassbinder.
- Thanks.

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00:15:17,641 --> 00:15:18,881
Boo!

240
00:15:19,801 --> 00:15:21,081
Shit!

241
00:15:22,121 --> 00:15:26,881
I have the honor of introducing
the film's star and its director...

242
00:15:27,001 --> 00:15:29,641
Ulli Lommel
and Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

243
00:15:36,681 --> 00:15:38,441
Did you like it?

244
00:15:44,721 --> 00:15:46,561
Where's the director?

245
00:15:55,561 --> 00:15:58,441
We wanted the film to make millions.

246
00:15:58,561 --> 00:16:02,201
We thought it would be
an international success.

247
00:16:02,321 --> 00:16:08,641
We were convinced
it would be a huge hit.

248
00:16:08,761 --> 00:16:11,961
That's the only way you can survive
a production like that.

249
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Of course he was bitter.

250
00:16:18,001 --> 00:16:19,881
Sure he was angry and bitter.

251
00:16:20,001 --> 00:16:25,441
But he wasn't going to give up
on his potential and slink off,

252
00:16:25,561 --> 00:16:29,601
his tail between his legs, saying, "I quit."
It was just taking off.

253
00:16:30,721 --> 00:16:35,561
Harry! If I'd known,
I'd have taken the afternoon off.

254
00:16:35,681 --> 00:16:38,761
Know what I was thinking
on the way over?

255
00:16:38,881 --> 00:16:42,801
Someone who'd never do
what we're doing is Rainer.

256
00:16:42,921 --> 00:16:44,881
He'd say, "Here, stick it!"

257
00:16:46,881 --> 00:16:48,281
Hey there!

258
00:16:48,401 --> 00:16:52,001
I'm not doing an interview
with a director! No way!

259
00:16:52,121 --> 00:16:54,921
He used to say,
"No one takes care of me, either."

260
00:16:55,041 --> 00:16:58,401
Which wasn't true. Everyone did.

261
00:16:59,001 --> 00:17:03,721
I wanted to make Baal.
I was in pre-production

262
00:17:03,841 --> 00:17:07,321
and looking for someone for the lead.

263
00:17:07,441 --> 00:17:09,961
Anyway, Rainer screened
the answer print

264
00:17:10,041 --> 00:17:11,601
DIRECTOR

265
00:17:11,681 --> 00:17:13,001
of Love is Colder Than Death...

266
00:17:13,081 --> 00:17:16,721
at a now-defunct cinema
on Thierschstrasse.

267
00:17:16,841 --> 00:17:19,441
I saw the film there.

268
00:17:19,561 --> 00:17:23,761
And it was clear that
his screen-presence was so strong...

269
00:17:23,881 --> 00:17:27,161
I didn't need to do a screen test
or anything.

270
00:17:28,121 --> 00:17:30,641
We quickly agreed.

271
00:17:30,761 --> 00:17:34,841
The condition was I'd hire
as many of his people as possible.

272
00:17:34,961 --> 00:17:39,081
He said, "If we rehearse for two weeks,"
as I'd suggested,

273
00:17:39,201 --> 00:17:42,921
"then film for three,
I'm gone five weeks.

274
00:17:43,041 --> 00:17:45,361
What will my troupe do?

275
00:17:45,481 --> 00:17:49,961
They need to eat.
I have to feed them somehow."

276
00:17:50,081 --> 00:17:56,801
So I cast a lot of them in roles
I hadn't yet filled.

277
00:17:56,921 --> 00:18:02,321
He also wanted his people
to come and see all the rushes,

278
00:18:02,441 --> 00:18:04,761
the first cut, the second cut...

279
00:18:04,881 --> 00:18:08,161
They all had to come,
both cast and crew.

280
00:18:08,281 --> 00:18:10,561
He wanted them to learn from it.

281
00:18:10,681 --> 00:18:13,601
To him it was like a big workshop.

282
00:18:13,721 --> 00:18:17,441
Was he difficult
when his people were around?

283
00:18:17,561 --> 00:18:19,641
His worst tantrum was...

284
00:18:21,241 --> 00:18:27,041
when he saw that taxes
had been deducted from his wages.

285
00:18:27,961 --> 00:18:30,281
He ripped it all up, threw it away,

286
00:18:30,401 --> 00:18:33,961
and told me, "I can't work like this.

287
00:18:34,081 --> 00:18:37,721
Everything gets paid gross, not net!"

288
00:18:37,841 --> 00:18:42,801
And that's how he produced
his next three or four films,

289
00:18:42,921 --> 00:18:44,841
like the previous ones.

290
00:18:44,961 --> 00:18:48,561
He didn't keep a single receipt
or anything.

291
00:18:48,681 --> 00:18:50,281
In fact that saved him.

292
00:18:50,401 --> 00:18:54,161
A few years later,
when people realized it,

293
00:18:54,281 --> 00:18:57,081
the taxmen had no evidence against him.

294
00:19:05,121 --> 00:19:07,921
Colleagues like Schlondorff...

295
00:19:08,041 --> 00:19:14,601
who'd prepared Baal, and then
started shooting three days later...

296
00:19:14,721 --> 00:19:17,881
When he saw it
he was blown away.

297
00:19:18,001 --> 00:19:21,521
Because five weeks
after his last film screened...

298
00:19:21,641 --> 00:19:24,921
at the Berlinale,
there was already another.

299
00:19:25,041 --> 00:19:28,081
I always said, and still do,

300
00:19:28,201 --> 00:19:31,161
if you have to make films,
then you make them.

301
00:19:32,561 --> 00:19:35,041
Where in Greece are you from?

302
00:19:36,601 --> 00:19:38,721
- What town?
- Piraeus.

303
00:19:41,361 --> 00:19:45,321
- Aren't there any jobs there?
- Jobs, yes, but no money.

304
00:19:45,441 --> 00:19:48,801
It's a political statement, too.

305
00:19:48,921 --> 00:19:51,601
This Greek who comes here from Greece

306
00:19:51,721 --> 00:19:57,481
and steals our women,
in a manner of speaking,

307
00:19:57,601 --> 00:20:00,801
and fucks better than us...

308
00:20:00,921 --> 00:20:05,921
We are depicted as dumb,
awkward, backward Bavarians,

309
00:20:06,041 --> 00:20:09,441
who gang up
and give the Greek a beating.

310
00:20:10,921 --> 00:20:11,961
What?

311
00:20:12,081 --> 00:20:17,201
I see it as a protest against
the stupid reactions at the Berlinale,

312
00:20:17,321 --> 00:20:20,361
where the critics went on about

313
00:20:20,481 --> 00:20:23,801
how static it was,
the shots were so slow.

314
00:20:24,801 --> 00:20:28,321
So I made Katzelmacher
even more static and slow.

315
00:20:28,441 --> 00:20:32,561
Besides which,
it was right for the material.

316
00:20:32,681 --> 00:20:35,881
With Rainer Werner, it had to be unique.

317
00:20:36,001 --> 00:20:39,081
And in that respect I think Rainer Werner

318
00:20:40,681 --> 00:20:45,041
belonged to a German
and European art tradition...

319
00:20:46,081 --> 00:20:50,161
You have to create something
that's never before been done.

320
00:20:50,761 --> 00:20:52,161
Aesthetically, too.

321
00:20:52,281 --> 00:20:54,081
Dietrich Lohmann told me

322
00:20:54,201 --> 00:20:57,681
how a reel of Katzelmacher
had been incorrectly exposed.

323
00:20:59,881 --> 00:21:00,921
God!

324
00:21:01,041 --> 00:21:02,921
And Rainer Werner said,

325
00:21:03,041 --> 00:21:07,081
"That's wonderful, a first.
Incorrectly exposed.

326
00:21:07,201 --> 00:21:09,961
Everyone will think it's intentional."

327
00:21:10,081 --> 00:21:15,201
We won the German Film Award
for Katzelmacher

328
00:21:15,321 --> 00:21:18,321
and gained a certain popularity.

329
00:21:18,441 --> 00:21:23,001
At a certain point Fassbinder
was even very visible in the press.

330
00:21:23,121 --> 00:21:26,481
Back in the early days...

331
00:21:26,561 --> 00:21:28,681
HEAD OF WRD TV (65-79)

332
00:21:28,761 --> 00:21:31,201
both in public and in private,

333
00:21:31,321 --> 00:21:35,321
Fassbinder was a kind of anti-hero.

334
00:21:35,441 --> 00:21:40,641
He played the part...
He always behaved like a rock star...

335
00:21:40,761 --> 00:21:45,561
a sullen, temperamental rock star

336
00:21:46,961 --> 00:21:51,121
with a certain tangible aggression,

337
00:21:52,321 --> 00:21:54,681
in a leather jacket and all,

338
00:21:54,801 --> 00:21:57,041
playing the big shot.

339
00:21:57,161 --> 00:22:01,001
So he came to see us at WDR.

340
00:22:01,121 --> 00:22:05,001
It can't have been easy for him
to meet with us TV people,

341
00:22:05,121 --> 00:22:09,361
whose money he wanted and needed

342
00:22:09,481 --> 00:22:12,001
in order to make his films.

343
00:22:12,121 --> 00:22:15,761
But he came and we talked.

344
00:22:15,881 --> 00:22:20,641
I asked if he'd like a drink.
He said, "I wouldn't mind a whiskey."

345
00:22:20,761 --> 00:22:25,561
Then he spent,
I don't know, an hour with me.

346
00:22:25,681 --> 00:22:28,001
And in that hour

347
00:22:28,121 --> 00:22:30,961
he smoked at least 20 cigarettes

348
00:22:32,001 --> 00:22:33,961
and drank half a bottle of whiskey.

349
00:22:34,721 --> 00:22:39,361
From every side,
particularly WDR TV and its subsidiaries,

350
00:22:39,481 --> 00:22:44,601
there was always money coming in.

351
00:22:44,721 --> 00:22:47,041
Films cost money, after all.

352
00:22:47,161 --> 00:22:48,761
And...

353
00:22:49,961 --> 00:22:52,361
that's how so many films got made.

354
00:22:52,481 --> 00:22:55,281
This frenzy of production...

355
00:22:55,401 --> 00:23:00,681
we experienced it as something that
became more and more focused on him.

356
00:23:00,801 --> 00:23:05,361
Do you think that the qualities
of the author, director,

357
00:23:05,481 --> 00:23:08,441
and all-round man,
Rainer Werner Fassbinder,

358
00:23:08,561 --> 00:23:11,361
Munich's poster boy of the subculture,

359
00:23:11,481 --> 00:23:15,161
will lead to a Fassbinder inflation?

360
00:23:15,281 --> 00:23:18,281
Absolutely.
No doubt about it.

361
00:23:20,081 --> 00:23:22,041
GODS OF THE PLAGUE

362
00:23:22,161 --> 00:23:23,961
THE AMERICAN SOLDIER

363
00:23:28,001 --> 00:23:29,681
THE NIKLASHAUSEN JOURNEY

364
00:23:29,801 --> 00:23:32,121
WHY DOES HERR R. RUN AMOK?

365
00:23:32,241 --> 00:23:33,681
BEWARE OF A HOLY WHORE

366
00:23:34,681 --> 00:23:36,721
There's an energy,

367
00:23:36,841 --> 00:23:38,281
a necessity -

368
00:23:38,401 --> 00:23:40,281
it has to come out -

369
00:23:40,401 --> 00:23:42,921
and the strength to articulate them.

370
00:23:43,041 --> 00:23:46,121
And he'd mastered the instruments

371
00:23:46,881 --> 00:23:49,481
to do so.
And it was obvious

372
00:23:50,721 --> 00:23:52,121
he'd go his own way.

373
00:23:52,241 --> 00:23:55,401
It wouldn't work with a 30-man crew.

374
00:23:55,521 --> 00:23:57,481
It worked because

375
00:23:57,601 --> 00:24:01,201
the actors also had other jobs to do.

376
00:24:01,321 --> 00:24:06,161
Kurt Raab was a brilliant actor,
and also the production designer.

377
00:24:06,281 --> 00:24:11,481
Mr Baer was an amateur actor,
who'd do anything for a part,

378
00:24:11,601 --> 00:24:14,721
and also worked as assistant director
or production manager.

379
00:24:14,841 --> 00:24:20,601
Everyone had two or three functions,

380
00:24:20,721 --> 00:24:24,041
and as a result they could work
very quickly and efficiently.

381
00:24:25,121 --> 00:24:30,161
The sense of community
was very present.

382
00:24:30,281 --> 00:24:33,921
At Stollbergstrasse we really tried

383
00:24:35,041 --> 00:24:37,041
to live as a commune.

384
00:24:38,201 --> 00:24:41,081
It was fascinating, the discussions...

385
00:24:41,201 --> 00:24:45,801
What we would do and how
was discussed beforehand.

386
00:24:45,921 --> 00:24:47,761
We had a big flat.

387
00:24:47,881 --> 00:24:51,961
First a small one
with Peer Raben and Stratz and me.

388
00:24:52,081 --> 00:24:54,881
- In one small flat?
- Yes, for a while.

389
00:24:55,001 --> 00:24:58,001
Then we lived near
the Nymphenburger canal,

390
00:24:58,121 --> 00:25:00,961
just Peer Raben, him, me,

391
00:25:01,081 --> 00:25:04,521
and Stratz sometimes stayed.
It was a bigger place.

392
00:25:04,641 --> 00:25:09,401
I often visited the villa, of course,
and the apartment in Lehel, but...

393
00:25:12,801 --> 00:25:14,601
I was...

394
00:25:15,801 --> 00:25:17,761
It was good I didn't live there.

395
00:25:18,561 --> 00:25:21,961
We would have killed each other.

396
00:25:24,961 --> 00:25:27,681
I wouldn't have had
the emotional strength

397
00:25:27,801 --> 00:25:33,521
to live 24 hours a day
with an entire troupe

398
00:25:33,641 --> 00:25:38,161
and to participate
in working out group conflicts,

399
00:25:38,281 --> 00:25:42,121
plus do my own work,
and make all that the centre of my work.

400
00:25:43,561 --> 00:25:45,841
I love him.

401
00:25:45,961 --> 00:25:47,201
More than ever!

402
00:25:50,001 --> 00:25:53,801
I can't exist without him in my head.

403
00:25:53,921 --> 00:26:00,481
I first met him on the production
of The Coffeehouse,

404
00:26:00,561 --> 00:26:02,121
ACTRESS

405
00:26:02,201 --> 00:26:04,881
a play adapted from Goldoni.

406
00:26:06,561 --> 00:26:09,721
It was based on that,
although the dialogue,

407
00:26:09,841 --> 00:26:13,201
as far as I can remember,

408
00:26:14,161 --> 00:26:19,481
was strongly based on his own intuition.

409
00:26:19,601 --> 00:26:22,881
It was a really important
experience for us,

410
00:26:23,001 --> 00:26:27,401
seeing that it was possible

411
00:26:27,521 --> 00:26:30,361
to work with actors
who were not group members,

412
00:26:30,481 --> 00:26:35,521
to create something special,
specific and original.

413
00:26:36,121 --> 00:26:41,281
He gave me the leading role
in everything we did...

414
00:26:43,001 --> 00:26:46,081
and I slowly found my way.

415
00:26:48,121 --> 00:26:50,961
That all sounds so harmonious.

416
00:26:51,081 --> 00:26:53,281
Yes... No, no.

417
00:26:53,401 --> 00:26:57,361
Well, it was more like... More like...

418
00:26:57,481 --> 00:26:59,641
a sort of education.

419
00:27:00,761 --> 00:27:03,161
For example, he...

420
00:27:03,281 --> 00:27:07,601
It was really mean of him, cruel.

421
00:27:07,721 --> 00:27:12,321
At night, after our performances,
after we'd appeared on stage,

422
00:27:12,441 --> 00:27:16,201
he'd take a piece of paper
and fold it several times,

423
00:27:16,321 --> 00:27:21,961
write our names, and each of us
had to mark the other actors

424
00:27:23,081 --> 00:27:25,561
on their performance that evening.

425
00:27:26,201 --> 00:27:29,601
And we'd all enter our marks.

426
00:27:29,721 --> 00:27:32,601
Then we'd unfold the sheet

427
00:27:32,721 --> 00:27:34,761
and see who had won.

428
00:27:35,881 --> 00:27:37,721
Most of the time I won.

429
00:27:38,761 --> 00:27:42,721
It was so awkward. They were all...

430
00:27:42,841 --> 00:27:44,801
so afraid of him.

431
00:27:44,921 --> 00:27:48,521
They'd try to mark the way he wanted.

432
00:27:48,641 --> 00:27:51,681
THE AMERICAN SOLDIER

433
00:27:57,441 --> 00:27:59,161
Oh, it's...

434
00:27:59,281 --> 00:28:03,641
Isn't this The American Soldier?

435
00:28:03,761 --> 00:28:06,761
The role of Ricky,
the German-American Vietnam vet,

436
00:28:06,881 --> 00:28:10,401
was written by Fassbinder
for Gunther Kaufmann.

437
00:28:10,521 --> 00:28:14,521
He met him doing Baal,

438
00:28:15,561 --> 00:28:19,401
and wanted him,
but Gunther kept a distance.

439
00:28:20,841 --> 00:28:23,361
Gunther was married, and...

440
00:28:25,401 --> 00:28:29,081
Fassbinder was hot for him,
for this black man.

441
00:28:31,921 --> 00:28:33,561
What's he doing there?

442
00:28:41,721 --> 00:28:43,641
There I am.

443
00:28:43,761 --> 00:28:46,521
I didn't realize
I was naked so often.

444
00:28:47,961 --> 00:28:49,561
It was never shown...

445
00:28:50,721 --> 00:28:53,041
The scene isn't in the film.

446
00:28:53,161 --> 00:28:54,481
It isn't in it?

447
00:28:55,641 --> 00:29:02,081
I quit the film because
I couldn't stand being naked so much,

448
00:29:02,201 --> 00:29:05,001
and filmed from below, you know.

449
00:29:05,121 --> 00:29:07,281
He interrupted filming...

450
00:29:07,401 --> 00:29:10,881
because he couldn't use the scenes
with us in them.

451
00:29:11,001 --> 00:29:13,201
He chose then to announce

452
00:29:13,321 --> 00:29:17,161
he was marrying Ingrid Caven.

453
00:29:18,761 --> 00:29:21,281
We should never have married.

454
00:29:21,401 --> 00:29:24,961
We got on better before and after

455
00:29:25,561 --> 00:29:27,041
than during our marriage.

456
00:29:27,161 --> 00:29:30,641
A strange mechanism took over,

457
00:29:30,761 --> 00:29:33,561
one I wouldn't have expected with us:

458
00:29:33,681 --> 00:29:40,321
It was this weird possessiveness

459
00:29:40,441 --> 00:29:43,281
that strangely took over.

460
00:29:44,161 --> 00:29:46,361
After our divorce...

461
00:29:46,481 --> 00:29:48,161
it disappeared again.

462
00:29:51,921 --> 00:29:56,921
They came here after the wedding,
he and Ingrid.

463
00:29:57,041 --> 00:29:59,001
Both came here that day.

464
00:29:59,121 --> 00:30:00,681
With Kaufmann, too.

465
00:30:01,361 --> 00:30:02,881
They were already...

466
00:30:03,001 --> 00:30:05,601
Ingrid, at least, was sloshed.

467
00:30:05,721 --> 00:30:08,521
She suddenly said,

468
00:30:08,641 --> 00:30:13,041
"Just so you know,
we have great sex together!"

469
00:30:13,161 --> 00:30:15,561
I wanted to sink into the ground

470
00:30:15,681 --> 00:30:19,161
because OK,
you can do sexual things.

471
00:30:19,281 --> 00:30:21,801
But you don't talk about them.

472
00:30:25,681 --> 00:30:29,201
He had a real relationship with Ingrid.

473
00:30:29,321 --> 00:30:33,641
And he had one with Kaufmann, too.
He wanted to have both.

474
00:30:43,201 --> 00:30:46,361
Then Kaufmann went back to his wife.

475
00:30:46,481 --> 00:30:48,561
He was married, after all.

476
00:30:48,681 --> 00:30:50,881
When Rainer found out,

477
00:30:51,001 --> 00:30:53,121
he fired him.

478
00:30:53,961 --> 00:30:57,561
You cow! You're as lousy
as some third-rate ham actor.

479
00:30:57,681 --> 00:31:00,641
Katrin, you take the role!

480
00:31:02,321 --> 00:31:05,681
I knew nothing about homosexuality.

481
00:31:05,801 --> 00:31:08,481
I didn't realize he was homosexual.

482
00:31:08,601 --> 00:31:10,601
And anyway he was bi.

483
00:31:10,721 --> 00:31:12,721
That is, he was...

484
00:31:12,841 --> 00:31:14,921
I mean, he was a real man.

485
00:31:15,041 --> 00:31:19,321
I didn't think, "He's weird, homosexual."

486
00:31:19,441 --> 00:31:22,081
He invited me to Paris.

487
00:31:23,881 --> 00:31:27,641
Of course he tried to get it on
in our hotel double bed.

488
00:31:27,761 --> 00:31:31,281
I turned away,
I didn't know how to respond.

489
00:31:31,961 --> 00:31:33,921
It was alien to me.

490
00:31:34,041 --> 00:31:38,521
The next day he rewarded me
with a trip to the sauna.

491
00:31:38,641 --> 00:31:40,481
A gay sauna, of course.

492
00:31:41,321 --> 00:31:43,241
I had no idea what was up.

493
00:31:43,361 --> 00:31:48,801
I found myself surrounded by
five or six French and Arab men,

494
00:31:49,241 --> 00:31:53,201
each latched on to one of my orifices.
So I fled,

495
00:31:54,201 --> 00:31:57,801
and landed in the arms of an older man.

496
00:31:58,921 --> 00:32:02,081
That was my first time.

497
00:32:03,561 --> 00:32:09,161
But it was the only disagreement
I had with him about that.

498
00:32:09,281 --> 00:32:12,401
What happened?
He'd taken you there to...

499
00:32:12,521 --> 00:32:17,201
He watched, amusing himself royally.
I could hear him laughing.

500
00:32:23,881 --> 00:32:27,841
That's when we filmed
the group's swansong.

501
00:32:27,961 --> 00:32:29,321
What was it called?

502
00:32:31,001 --> 00:32:33,841
Beware of a Holy Whore.

503
00:32:35,681 --> 00:32:40,201
Each of us wondered
if we were the holy whore.

504
00:32:41,361 --> 00:32:44,681
He gave everyone someone else's voice.

505
00:32:44,801 --> 00:32:46,441
But he left me mine.

506
00:32:46,561 --> 00:32:51,481
For example,
he gave Magdalena Montezuma

507
00:32:51,601 --> 00:32:54,841
- Irm's voice.
- Not just her voice.

508
00:32:54,961 --> 00:32:57,001
- The role, too.
- The role, too.

509
00:32:57,121 --> 00:33:01,241
He had himself played
by someone else, too,

510
00:33:01,361 --> 00:33:04,961
while he played the production manager.

511
00:33:05,081 --> 00:33:08,281
You exploit me,
then leave me high and dry.

512
00:33:08,401 --> 00:33:11,681
You terrorize me, you bastards!
You're killing me!

513
00:33:11,801 --> 00:33:14,481
I hate you! Korbinian!

514
00:33:14,601 --> 00:33:18,001
I want ten Cuba Libres!
Ten, do you hear?

515
00:33:19,481 --> 00:33:22,761
I kept abreast of things by phone,

516
00:33:22,881 --> 00:33:28,001
the goings-on in Sorrento
or wherever it was.

517
00:33:28,121 --> 00:33:33,761
The pattern was always the same:
humiliation, praise, praise, humiliation.

518
00:33:33,881 --> 00:33:38,801
Create dependency, exclude,
then accept back into the group.

519
00:33:38,921 --> 00:33:44,721
An endless cycle
of emotional power struggles.

520
00:33:45,681 --> 00:33:47,841
Of course he knew perfectly well,

521
00:33:48,321 --> 00:33:51,801
these power struggles simply reflected

522
00:33:51,921 --> 00:33:54,601
what takes place everywhere in society.

523
00:33:54,721 --> 00:33:58,401
Which is why he never had
moral scruples

524
00:33:58,521 --> 00:34:00,921
about really laying into you.

525
00:34:01,041 --> 00:34:06,041
He said, "I'm only doing
what constantly happens in society."

526
00:34:06,161 --> 00:34:08,681
If someone was on the floor whimpering,

527
00:34:08,801 --> 00:34:12,081
he'd say, "You coward,
why are you whimpering?

528
00:34:12,201 --> 00:34:15,241
Why don't you get up
and defend yourself?"

529
00:34:15,361 --> 00:34:18,241
You know, make a fist and fight.

530
00:34:18,361 --> 00:34:22,281
The film sets were often battlefields.

531
00:34:23,761 --> 00:34:28,721
I wasn't involved
because I didn't belong to the clique.

532
00:34:29,761 --> 00:34:32,561
I was never dependent on him.

533
00:34:32,681 --> 00:34:35,961
Of course, as part of his group...

534
00:34:36,081 --> 00:34:42,281
you were dependent on whether he would
think of you when casting his next film,

535
00:34:43,681 --> 00:34:48,521
whether he had a decent part for you.

536
00:34:48,641 --> 00:34:53,161
So you clung to these hopes
and to his every word.

537
00:34:54,561 --> 00:34:58,121
Anyway, directing is about playing God.

538
00:34:58,241 --> 00:35:01,561
Everyone does what you tell them to.

539
00:35:01,681 --> 00:35:03,041
And so...

540
00:35:03,921 --> 00:35:08,281
it's easy for them
to become your creatures.

541
00:35:09,721 --> 00:35:13,521
Fassbinder was a man
with many people in his thrall.

542
00:35:14,961 --> 00:35:18,401
It's not an expression
people use anymore.

543
00:35:18,521 --> 00:35:20,081
"Enthralled."

544
00:35:20,201 --> 00:35:24,961
Here you have a better chance
of having fun at work.

545
00:35:26,321 --> 00:35:27,801
Try to understand.

546
00:35:29,641 --> 00:35:32,721
That's true,
but we're still dependent on you.

547
00:35:32,841 --> 00:35:37,001
And dependency leads
to the same fear we'd fled from.

548
00:35:37,921 --> 00:35:40,401
Why are you dependent?

549
00:35:40,521 --> 00:35:45,921
I think it's an example
of the group psychology you often see.

550
00:35:46,881 --> 00:35:50,121
Selfish alpha animals

551
00:35:51,041 --> 00:35:53,921
who attract packs around them.

552
00:35:54,041 --> 00:35:58,961
Maybe such people do exist,
the born followers.

553
00:36:00,241 --> 00:36:01,641
Loyal vassals?

554
00:36:02,281 --> 00:36:03,361
Yes?

555
00:36:05,601 --> 00:36:08,641
I guess you could say I was at my...

556
00:36:10,201 --> 00:36:12,961
apogee as an actor.

557
00:36:13,081 --> 00:36:16,961
I needed someone to tell me,
"Screw Fassbinder!

558
00:36:17,081 --> 00:36:20,721
Why be at his beck and call
as assistant director?"

559
00:36:21,161 --> 00:36:25,921
But there was no such person
to give me a shake

560
00:36:26,041 --> 00:36:29,721
and say, "I'm kicking you upstairs."

561
00:36:30,441 --> 00:36:32,401
And for me it was...

562
00:36:33,481 --> 00:36:34,481
I...

563
00:36:35,321 --> 00:36:37,681
I liked working with Fassbinder.

564
00:36:37,801 --> 00:36:42,041
It's not like I was being forced
to do anything.

565
00:36:42,161 --> 00:36:46,161
And there was always something to do,
that's another thing.

566
00:36:51,121 --> 00:36:54,361
If you can find a lawyer,
I think you'd better hire one.

567
00:36:55,201 --> 00:36:58,281
Fassbinder went on making films
while losing money.

568
00:36:58,401 --> 00:37:03,041
Cash flow problems led to debts
he was slow to shake off.

569
00:37:03,881 --> 00:37:07,161
"Taxes? Why should we pay taxes?

570
00:37:07,281 --> 00:37:10,201
You pigs build tanks
so you can...

571
00:37:10,321 --> 00:37:11,481
Forget it!"

572
00:37:11,601 --> 00:37:14,681
He didn't think about the taxmen.

573
00:37:14,801 --> 00:37:16,881
But later they came after him.

574
00:37:17,841 --> 00:37:20,481
He's threatened with prison.

575
00:37:20,601 --> 00:37:23,121
He owes over 200,000 marks.

576
00:37:23,241 --> 00:37:26,121
To bring order to company finances,

577
00:37:26,241 --> 00:37:28,601
Fassbinder's mother, Lilo Eder,

578
00:37:28,721 --> 00:37:31,241
steps in as production accountant.

579
00:37:32,041 --> 00:37:34,241
She dedicated herself to him.

580
00:37:34,361 --> 00:37:36,801
Her husband had passed away,

581
00:37:38,841 --> 00:37:42,321
so Rainer became the one.

582
00:37:42,441 --> 00:37:46,281
TABLE TENNIS
FIVE DAYS IN THE LIFE OF A CHILD

583
00:37:46,401 --> 00:37:49,321
It takes place
at Schwedenheim boarding school.

584
00:37:49,921 --> 00:37:54,361
The mother tries to make the school
seem appealing to him and the girls...

585
00:37:54,481 --> 00:37:58,041
You can tell that Franz
is Fassbinder's alter ego?

586
00:37:58,161 --> 00:38:00,441
Certainly. Immediately.

587
00:38:00,561 --> 00:38:03,201
It's obvious that he is Franz.

588
00:38:05,201 --> 00:38:09,481
"Franz is carrying two suitcases.
Mother: It's nice here, isn't it?

589
00:38:09,601 --> 00:38:11,521
Trees, lots of green.

590
00:38:12,321 --> 00:38:15,361
Franz:
Why not move in here yourself?

591
00:38:16,521 --> 00:38:17,761
Mother:

592
00:38:17,881 --> 00:38:22,721
Why are you always so mean, Franz?
You know my life isn't easy.

593
00:38:23,361 --> 00:38:26,121
Franz: Sure.
No one's life is easy.

594
00:38:26,241 --> 00:38:30,681
Mother: But things are much better
than they were."

595
00:38:31,601 --> 00:38:36,401
He was always on the lookout for stories.

596
00:38:36,961 --> 00:38:40,281
He would always, or often...

597
00:38:40,401 --> 00:38:43,881
carry a little notepad

598
00:38:44,001 --> 00:38:47,481
and make notes so he'd remember things.

599
00:38:48,401 --> 00:38:52,481
That's why he always kept to one side.

600
00:38:52,601 --> 00:38:57,081
Judging from what I read here,
it was to observe events better.

601
00:39:00,161 --> 00:39:01,161
"Helga:

602
00:39:01,281 --> 00:39:04,881
So I said he should tell me,
'I love you.'

603
00:39:05,001 --> 00:39:06,441
Waltraud:

604
00:39:06,561 --> 00:39:09,001
Well? Did he say it?

605
00:39:09,121 --> 00:39:11,041
Helga: No.

606
00:39:11,161 --> 00:39:12,681
I think that's mean.

607
00:39:12,801 --> 00:39:14,161
I don't.

608
00:39:14,281 --> 00:39:18,001
This way I can go on thinking
he loves me.

609
00:39:18,121 --> 00:39:20,161
Right. Love."

610
00:39:20,881 --> 00:39:24,241
Very realistic in terms of life there.

611
00:39:24,361 --> 00:39:25,641
- Yes?
- Yes.

612
00:39:25,761 --> 00:39:29,121
Though I don't know
about the bit with his mother.

613
00:39:29,241 --> 00:39:33,001
I didn't know her,
so I can't judge their relationship.

614
00:39:36,361 --> 00:39:40,361
"The mother brings out the letter.
Franz reads it.

615
00:39:40,481 --> 00:39:42,721
Franz: Given this situation,

616
00:39:42,841 --> 00:39:47,401
we can no longer keep your son
at our school.

617
00:39:48,281 --> 00:39:52,401
Mother: Do an apprenticeship,
become a respectable youth.

618
00:39:52,521 --> 00:39:56,241
I always hoped you'd turn out
to be respectable."

619
00:39:56,961 --> 00:40:00,081
In your opinion,
did he turn out respectable?

620
00:40:01,801 --> 00:40:05,401
The way he did his thing,
practiced his profession,

621
00:40:05,521 --> 00:40:09,881
yes, he turned out respectable,
like his mother wanted.

622
00:40:11,361 --> 00:40:12,641
THE BITTER TEARS
OF PETRA VON KANT

623
00:40:12,761 --> 00:40:13,841
MERCHANT OF FOUR SEASONS

624
00:40:13,961 --> 00:40:15,481
JAILBAIT

625
00:40:15,601 --> 00:40:17,001
EIGHT HOURS DON'T MAKE A DAY

626
00:40:21,921 --> 00:40:23,361
MOTHER KUSTERS' TRIP TO HEAVEN

627
00:40:23,481 --> 00:40:24,841
I ONLY WANT YOU TO LOVE ME

628
00:40:25,281 --> 00:40:28,081
I don't like to speak badly of him,

629
00:40:28,201 --> 00:40:30,641
even though he was no angel.

630
00:40:31,321 --> 00:40:33,041
Yet he was an angel, too.

631
00:40:33,161 --> 00:40:39,001
For most of us, most of those
involved with him, he made life...

632
00:40:39,121 --> 00:40:42,161
much more interesting than it had been.

633
00:40:48,481 --> 00:40:51,881
"You're probably in bed
with a girl right now.

634
00:40:52,001 --> 00:40:54,161
Or is it a man again?

635
00:40:55,081 --> 00:40:57,921
You're stroking
her smooth skin and hips...

636
00:40:58,041 --> 00:41:02,401
her thighs, belly, breasts...
You kiss her hair, eyes, the...

637
00:41:03,441 --> 00:41:05,961
Shit. Stop. I can't stand it.

638
00:41:06,641 --> 00:41:10,201
When you didn't come, didn't smile,

639
00:41:10,321 --> 00:41:11,921
didn't speak of love...

640
00:41:12,721 --> 00:41:17,321
When I had to give up thinking of you
as something real,

641
00:41:18,241 --> 00:41:20,281
I said to myself,

642
00:41:20,401 --> 00:41:22,881
'l have to die
to make him love me."'

643
00:41:25,921 --> 00:41:27,761
What can you say?

644
00:41:28,961 --> 00:41:30,801
A powerful text. Wonderful.

645
00:41:32,161 --> 00:41:34,041
To me it's great poetry.

646
00:41:34,801 --> 00:41:36,201
Great writing.

647
00:41:36,921 --> 00:41:38,721
Any idea who it was meant for?

648
00:41:38,841 --> 00:41:40,281
AGONY

649
00:41:40,401 --> 00:41:44,001
Yes, I can imagine who.

650
00:41:44,681 --> 00:41:46,961
It dates back to then, I think.

651
00:41:47,081 --> 00:41:51,081
Just imagine, his big black hands
on my white skin.

652
00:41:52,281 --> 00:41:54,321
And those lips!

653
00:41:54,441 --> 00:41:56,961
You know,
Negroes all have thick, warm lips.

654
00:42:05,001 --> 00:42:07,081
Don't faint, darling!

655
00:42:09,321 --> 00:42:12,761
Stop staring, you cow!
Bring the newspapers!

656
00:42:13,401 --> 00:42:17,401
What I didn't know then,
and Willi didn't tell me,

657
00:42:17,521 --> 00:42:22,401
was that it was all an analysis
of Rainer's love life.

658
00:42:23,641 --> 00:42:25,481
I didn't know that.

659
00:42:27,201 --> 00:42:29,521
What do you mean, Rainer's love life?

660
00:42:30,241 --> 00:42:33,121
Because he was Petra. Rainer was.

661
00:42:35,801 --> 00:42:37,161
I didn't know that.

662
00:42:37,281 --> 00:42:39,321
We said we'd be honest with each other.

663
00:42:40,361 --> 00:42:42,521
But you can't take it.

664
00:42:42,641 --> 00:42:44,601
You want to be lied to.

665
00:42:46,841 --> 00:42:48,201
Yes.

666
00:42:49,121 --> 00:42:50,521
Lie to me.

667
00:42:52,161 --> 00:42:53,801
Please lie to me.

668
00:42:59,281 --> 00:43:01,441
Fine. It's not true.

669
00:43:03,321 --> 00:43:05,721
I spent the night walking alone,

670
00:43:05,841 --> 00:43:07,961
thinking about us.

671
00:43:10,441 --> 00:43:12,001
Really?

672
00:43:14,241 --> 00:43:16,241
That's not true?

673
00:43:17,241 --> 00:43:18,801
Of course not.

674
00:43:19,801 --> 00:43:22,361
I did sleep with a guy.

675
00:43:22,481 --> 00:43:24,721
But it doesn't matter does it?

676
00:43:25,921 --> 00:43:27,841
No, no.

677
00:43:27,961 --> 00:43:29,841
Of course not.

678
00:43:30,401 --> 00:43:31,881
But...

679
00:43:35,161 --> 00:43:37,081
I don't understand.

680
00:43:39,401 --> 00:43:40,921
Really.

681
00:43:42,361 --> 00:43:44,401
I don't understand.

682
00:43:49,161 --> 00:43:50,841
Why?

683
00:43:56,281 --> 00:43:57,761
Why?

684
00:44:12,601 --> 00:44:14,321
Don't cry, Petra.

685
00:44:16,921 --> 00:44:19,961
Look, I like you. I love you, but...

686
00:44:22,561 --> 00:44:24,281
But it's obvious.

687
00:44:24,401 --> 00:44:26,801
I need a man from time to time.

688
00:44:26,921 --> 00:44:28,281
That's how I am.

689
00:44:28,401 --> 00:44:31,681
There were no explanations
and no rehearsals.

690
00:44:32,641 --> 00:44:36,401
He wanted the people who interact
to be individuals.

691
00:44:36,521 --> 00:44:39,121
I think Rainer always wanted

692
00:44:39,241 --> 00:44:42,441
to let people
be as different as possible...

693
00:44:43,761 --> 00:44:46,481
so as to somehow...

694
00:44:46,601 --> 00:44:50,281
characterize
and maybe even denounce them.

695
00:44:50,401 --> 00:44:53,361
I liked that, I thought it was great.

696
00:44:53,481 --> 00:44:58,201
Drawing characters so clearly
that they're also being denounced.

697
00:44:58,321 --> 00:45:01,521
I simply took in what Margit
was saying.

698
00:45:01,641 --> 00:45:04,601
And then I reacted to it.

699
00:45:04,721 --> 00:45:06,161
That's easy for me,

700
00:45:07,201 --> 00:45:11,801
reacting to what other people say.

701
00:45:13,281 --> 00:45:16,001
In those nine days of shooting,

702
00:45:16,121 --> 00:45:18,201
he made a total wreck of me.

703
00:45:18,321 --> 00:45:22,121
Time after time
he managed to reduce me to tears.

704
00:45:22,241 --> 00:45:27,721
The poor makeup artist
had to keep redoing my makeup

705
00:45:27,841 --> 00:45:30,041
because the tears were streaming.

706
00:45:30,161 --> 00:45:34,481
He reduced me to a mental state

707
00:45:34,601 --> 00:45:38,161
of complete depression
for those nine days.

708
00:45:38,281 --> 00:45:42,561
- Though it wasn't necessary.
- How did he make you cry?

709
00:45:42,681 --> 00:45:46,401
By divulging intimate details
in front of 50 people.

710
00:45:46,521 --> 00:45:50,121
It was a game he liked to play.
Not just with me.

711
00:45:50,241 --> 00:45:55,641
One time he threw me
by telling me to learn a text by heart...

712
00:45:55,761 --> 00:46:00,041
It was this long.
And that was right before the shoot.

713
00:46:00,161 --> 00:46:02,841
I was supposed to learn it in minutes,

714
00:46:02,961 --> 00:46:05,161
memorize it, you know.

715
00:46:05,601 --> 00:46:06,721
Impossible.

716
00:46:07,961 --> 00:46:10,641
You're in such a state after that,

717
00:46:10,761 --> 00:46:14,001
one you could never portray.

718
00:46:15,201 --> 00:46:18,561
You're suffering horribly.

719
00:46:18,681 --> 00:46:21,201
I am so screwed.

720
00:46:22,521 --> 00:46:25,441
Dear God, what did I do to deserve this?

721
00:46:26,681 --> 00:46:28,481
Whatever did I do?

722
00:46:29,641 --> 00:46:31,121
Karin?

723
00:46:33,801 --> 00:46:35,441
These women...

724
00:46:36,881 --> 00:46:40,161
There's this wonderful quote
from James Cagney.

725
00:46:40,281 --> 00:46:42,361
He once said to an actor,

726
00:46:42,481 --> 00:46:44,521
"Learn your lines,

727
00:46:44,641 --> 00:46:46,601
find your mark,

728
00:46:47,721 --> 00:46:49,681
look people in the eyes,

729
00:46:50,521 --> 00:46:52,241
tell the truth

730
00:46:53,081 --> 00:46:55,201
and don't bump into the furniture."

731
00:46:55,961 --> 00:46:57,201
That's really...

732
00:47:00,121 --> 00:47:03,841
And that was always my approach
as an actor.

733
00:47:04,401 --> 00:47:05,801
Are you in or not?

734
00:47:08,041 --> 00:47:09,361
- Sure.
- Well then.

735
00:47:14,321 --> 00:47:16,801
I never thought about

736
00:47:16,921 --> 00:47:19,681
what the character's backstory is,

737
00:47:19,801 --> 00:47:21,681
what he ate for breakfast...

738
00:47:21,801 --> 00:47:25,121
To me, all that Stanislavsky crap is...

739
00:47:25,241 --> 00:47:29,201
Also, I don't like working
with amateur actors.

740
00:47:30,201 --> 00:47:31,521
Because...

741
00:47:32,441 --> 00:47:34,761
Because I'm trying...

742
00:47:35,401 --> 00:47:40,241
to develop a form of acting
together with the actors

743
00:47:40,361 --> 00:47:43,481
that you cannot develop with amateurs.

744
00:47:43,601 --> 00:47:47,881
And it involves a development
from one film to the next.

745
00:47:48,001 --> 00:47:53,041
Besides the fact that I like
working with actors only as long

746
00:47:53,161 --> 00:47:57,361
as a director is inspired by the actors
and vice versa.

747
00:47:57,481 --> 00:48:00,521
Due to the influence and intrusion

748
00:48:00,641 --> 00:48:03,641
of actors from outside

749
00:48:03,761 --> 00:48:07,361
and so-called stars,

750
00:48:07,481 --> 00:48:10,401
he distanced himself from me, of course.

751
00:48:10,521 --> 00:48:14,161
That is, I was a burden from the past...

752
00:48:15,281 --> 00:48:16,521
you might say.

753
00:48:18,921 --> 00:48:21,801
WORLD ON A WIRE

754
00:48:22,481 --> 00:48:26,001
The group around Rainer,
and Rainer himself...

755
00:48:26,121 --> 00:48:28,521
The whole thing was like a machine.

756
00:48:29,521 --> 00:48:34,241
Like with road construction.
It advances slowly but surely.

757
00:48:34,361 --> 00:48:35,761
And...

758
00:48:36,601 --> 00:48:39,041
while one film was being shot,

759
00:48:40,561 --> 00:48:44,361
the next was in development.

760
00:48:45,921 --> 00:48:50,121
It would go into pre-production,
usually under Kurt Raab.

761
00:48:51,161 --> 00:48:54,681
And since something
had been developed,

762
00:48:54,801 --> 00:48:57,521
it was then ready to shoot.

763
00:48:57,641 --> 00:49:01,001
So you'd jump
from one project to the next.

764
00:49:01,081 --> 00:49:02,841
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER

765
00:49:02,921 --> 00:49:04,961
Meanwhile, you'd keep working on it

766
00:49:05,041 --> 00:49:08,121
so the material would mature
and you'd be ready to start.

767
00:49:08,201 --> 00:49:11,841
That's how it was when we said,

768
00:49:11,961 --> 00:49:15,641
"Now we'll write World on a Wire."

769
00:49:15,761 --> 00:49:17,961
We did it like this:

770
00:49:18,081 --> 00:49:22,241
One Friday evening
around 6pm we flew to Paris,

771
00:49:22,361 --> 00:49:25,881
because at the time
it was Rainer's favorite city.

772
00:49:26,801 --> 00:49:30,761
Saturday and Sunday
we worked on the script,

773
00:49:30,881 --> 00:49:35,441
and on Monday
caught the first flight back to Bochum.

774
00:49:35,561 --> 00:49:38,641
If everything has gone according to plan,

775
00:49:40,481 --> 00:49:44,521
he's in a straitjacket by now.

776
00:49:44,641 --> 00:49:47,881
We'd actually intended

777
00:49:48,721 --> 00:49:51,281
to write a simple, taut thriller.

778
00:49:51,401 --> 00:49:54,081
We thought we could do it.

779
00:49:55,681 --> 00:49:57,841
And we wanted to have fun, too.

780
00:49:58,681 --> 00:50:04,321
Back then we always managed,
while working, to have fun.

781
00:50:04,441 --> 00:50:05,921
Really.

782
00:50:06,841 --> 00:50:11,921
We were young, we were both 27.

783
00:50:13,041 --> 00:50:14,121
And...

784
00:50:15,521 --> 00:50:18,481
we thought, we can do this.
And we could.

785
00:50:23,521 --> 00:50:28,081
It was a huge adventure for me,
being with this madman...

786
00:50:29,841 --> 00:50:33,361
whom others saw as a firebrand.

787
00:50:33,481 --> 00:50:35,881
It was fascinating

788
00:50:36,001 --> 00:50:40,641
and gave you access to a world
you would never otherwise enter.

789
00:50:40,761 --> 00:50:42,601
The guy was so charming

790
00:50:42,721 --> 00:50:46,121
and yet such a stinker...

791
00:50:46,881 --> 00:50:49,961
a tyrant, a manipulator.

792
00:50:50,081 --> 00:50:51,641
Terrible.

793
00:50:51,761 --> 00:50:53,641
But amazing, too.

794
00:50:58,121 --> 00:51:01,841
Do your stories inhabit you
long before you film them?

795
00:51:01,961 --> 00:51:04,881
Usually, yes. Most of the stories

796
00:51:05,001 --> 00:51:08,241
are there for a couple of years.

797
00:51:12,881 --> 00:51:15,801
Two years before
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul,

798
00:51:15,921 --> 00:51:19,881
Fassbinder has Margarethe von Trotta
tell the following story...

799
00:51:20,921 --> 00:51:22,801
Happiness isn't always funny.

800
00:51:24,321 --> 00:51:26,081
There was once a cleaning woman.

801
00:51:27,001 --> 00:51:30,041
Her name was Emmi, she was 60 or 65.

802
00:51:30,841 --> 00:51:32,601
One day,

803
00:51:33,241 --> 00:51:36,561
on her way home, it started pouring.

804
00:51:36,681 --> 00:51:38,761
So she goes into a bar,

805
00:51:39,761 --> 00:51:41,481
a bar for immigrant workers.

806
00:51:42,961 --> 00:51:44,841
She sits down and drinks a Coke.

807
00:51:46,681 --> 00:51:48,841
Suddenly a man asks her

808
00:51:49,641 --> 00:51:51,641
to dance with him.

809
00:51:52,961 --> 00:51:56,481
He's really tall,
has very broad shoulders.

810
00:51:57,561 --> 00:51:59,241
And she finds him handsome

811
00:52:00,321 --> 00:52:02,241
and dances with him.

812
00:52:03,601 --> 00:52:05,881
Then he sits down with her

813
00:52:06,001 --> 00:52:07,561
and talks to her.

814
00:52:09,601 --> 00:52:11,761
He says he has nowhere to stay,

815
00:52:13,241 --> 00:52:16,281
and Emmi offers
to let him stay with her.

816
00:52:18,401 --> 00:52:21,961
He goes to her place
and sleeps with her.

817
00:52:23,601 --> 00:52:25,521
And a few days later

818
00:52:27,321 --> 00:52:29,561
he says they should get married.

819
00:52:30,201 --> 00:52:32,041
Why cry?

820
00:52:32,161 --> 00:52:35,361
Because I am so happy
and also full of fear.

821
00:52:35,481 --> 00:52:37,361
Not fear. Fear not good.

822
00:52:37,481 --> 00:52:39,001
Fear eat the soul.

823
00:52:39,121 --> 00:52:40,961
Fear eats the soul.

824
00:52:42,161 --> 00:52:43,881
That's beautiful.

825
00:52:45,201 --> 00:52:47,001
With Fear Eats the Soul,

826
00:52:47,121 --> 00:52:52,281
I'd been close
to the Moroccan lead for two years.

827
00:52:52,401 --> 00:52:56,281
And a lot of what's in the film
is the reaction

828
00:52:57,161 --> 00:53:00,841
of other people to us.

829
00:53:00,961 --> 00:53:02,441
I've got married.

830
00:53:03,001 --> 00:53:04,481
Come in.

831
00:53:07,121 --> 00:53:09,201
This is my husband.

832
00:53:09,321 --> 00:53:13,401
El Hedi ben Salem
m'Barek Mohammed Mustafa.

833
00:53:13,521 --> 00:53:14,601
I call him Ali.

834
00:53:14,721 --> 00:53:17,441
- Mom!
- But...

835
00:53:21,521 --> 00:53:23,721
Come, Eugen. We're not staying...

836
00:53:23,841 --> 00:53:25,561
in this pigsty!

837
00:53:27,641 --> 00:53:30,121
He was Rainer's partner at the time.

838
00:53:30,921 --> 00:53:33,601
You know, boyfriend, lover, whatever.

839
00:53:34,441 --> 00:53:35,921
And...

840
00:53:36,041 --> 00:53:39,121
he had to be there,
bored stiff of course.

841
00:53:39,241 --> 00:53:43,281
He had a sense of honor,
a very strong sense of honor,

842
00:53:43,401 --> 00:53:48,481
and he insisted on working,
on participating,

843
00:53:48,601 --> 00:53:53,281
not just sitting there in the corner
as Rainer's lover.

844
00:53:54,401 --> 00:53:56,281
Rainer had to go along.

845
00:53:56,401 --> 00:53:59,361
- Do you fancy him?
- He looks solid.

846
00:54:00,521 --> 00:54:02,281
At least he's well dressed.

847
00:54:03,401 --> 00:54:06,641
Judging by his nose and hands,
he must be well hung.

848
00:54:07,441 --> 00:54:09,761
Marry him if you want, be my guest!

849
00:54:13,481 --> 00:54:17,921
The story has a sad ending.

850
00:54:18,041 --> 00:54:24,201
When Rainer Werner
couldn't take El Hedi anymore,

851
00:54:25,721 --> 00:54:29,441
someone arranged
for him to be...

852
00:54:30,481 --> 00:54:35,361
sent by the authorities to Paris,
to France.

853
00:54:36,121 --> 00:54:39,881
He eventually ended up in prison
and died there.

854
00:54:41,641 --> 00:54:43,641
Actually,

855
00:54:43,761 --> 00:54:45,721
it's pretty macabre, right?

856
00:54:45,841 --> 00:54:49,241
Here was this once calm guy,

857
00:54:50,081 --> 00:54:53,881
who couldn't get along
with people in the West.

858
00:54:54,001 --> 00:54:58,721
Who knows what would have become
of him if he'd stayed back home?

859
00:55:08,521 --> 00:55:11,521
In 1974, Fassbinder
comes to Frankfurt's Theater am Turm

860
00:55:11,641 --> 00:55:14,601
to save it from impending closure.

861
00:55:14,721 --> 00:55:16,881
Though hired as its director,

862
00:55:17,001 --> 00:55:20,361
he has no interest
in managing budgets, PR,

863
00:55:20,481 --> 00:55:22,641
or the dogma of
collective decision-making.

864
00:55:22,761 --> 00:55:25,521
He and his troupe hijack the stage.

865
00:55:25,641 --> 00:55:28,521
REPRESENTATION
A CAPITALIST CON?

866
00:55:28,641 --> 00:55:32,001
I think he staged only one play.

867
00:55:32,601 --> 00:55:35,921
I learned during rehearsals

868
00:55:36,041 --> 00:55:38,281
and then performances

869
00:55:38,401 --> 00:55:41,681
that Rainer
was far more sensitive than I.

870
00:55:41,801 --> 00:55:46,441
Jean is actually the one
who torments Miss Julie.

871
00:55:47,641 --> 00:55:52,641
But he played him
as this really sensitive individual.

872
00:55:52,761 --> 00:55:54,521
He played it so subtly.

873
00:55:55,281 --> 00:55:57,121
Incomparable!

874
00:55:57,241 --> 00:55:59,521
I can imagine that

875
00:55:59,641 --> 00:56:05,761
in a theatre which depends
on municipal and state funding,

876
00:56:05,881 --> 00:56:13,281
you can grasp a great deal about
political processes at work in a city.

877
00:56:13,921 --> 00:56:17,561
And I am sure
you can develop from this...

878
00:56:17,681 --> 00:56:21,241
you can develop themes
that are both true for Frankfurt

879
00:56:21,361 --> 00:56:25,121
and also relevant
in any political discussion.

880
00:56:25,241 --> 00:56:27,601
To him it was important

881
00:56:27,721 --> 00:56:30,801
that he write the play
Garbage, the City and Death.

882
00:56:32,001 --> 00:56:34,721
I don't know how long he spent on it.

883
00:56:34,841 --> 00:56:37,841
It's wonderfully written and structured.

884
00:56:38,921 --> 00:56:40,841
A weird take on city life

885
00:56:40,961 --> 00:56:44,161
that suggests the involvement
of Jewish speculators

886
00:56:44,281 --> 00:56:48,361
in the tearing down of old buildings
in Frankfurt.

887
00:56:48,481 --> 00:56:50,281
Someone assumed

888
00:56:50,401 --> 00:56:57,161
that the Frankfurt real estate shark
in the play had to be Ignatz Bubis.

889
00:56:57,961 --> 00:57:00,761
The very word "Jew" was taboo.

890
00:57:01,601 --> 00:57:05,881
So there was this sudden outcry

891
00:57:07,281 --> 00:57:09,481
from every classroom

892
00:57:09,601 --> 00:57:14,521
all the way to...
the editorial offices of Die Zeit.

893
00:57:17,121 --> 00:57:20,241
He'd thought it all through, of course.

894
00:57:20,961 --> 00:57:23,801
He didn't suspect
it would blow up like that,

895
00:57:23,921 --> 00:57:27,281
that the reaction would be so extreme,

896
00:57:27,841 --> 00:57:30,201
and the play even banned.

897
00:57:30,321 --> 00:57:32,601
It was a real political scandal.

898
00:57:32,721 --> 00:57:35,721
And it gave him a reason to leave.

899
00:57:35,841 --> 00:57:39,041
He wouldn't have written a play
if he imagined

900
00:57:39,161 --> 00:57:43,241
it would never be staged in Germany.

901
00:57:43,361 --> 00:57:46,401
But what he always did consider

902
00:57:46,521 --> 00:57:49,561
was a theme's relevance.

903
00:57:50,801 --> 00:57:52,681
And the theme was relevant.

904
00:57:52,801 --> 00:57:59,161
To me it simply
somehow confirmed the fact

905
00:58:00,361 --> 00:58:03,561
that once you create something,

906
00:58:03,681 --> 00:58:05,801
it is then treated

907
00:58:07,481 --> 00:58:10,561
in a way you can no longer influence.

908
00:58:11,601 --> 00:58:14,081
All the same,

909
00:58:14,201 --> 00:58:18,881
the accusations
naturally made me quite sad, since...

910
00:58:20,241 --> 00:58:24,001
as you said,
I think that in everything I've done

911
00:58:24,841 --> 00:58:28,361
I've made it fairly plain

912
00:58:30,201 --> 00:58:32,001
that such an accusation

913
00:58:33,401 --> 00:58:35,761
simply doesn't apply to me.

914
00:58:35,881 --> 00:58:37,161
FEAR OF FEAR

915
00:58:37,281 --> 00:58:38,401
SATAN'S BREW

916
00:58:38,521 --> 00:58:40,001
CHINESE ROULETTE

917
00:58:40,121 --> 00:58:41,441
THE STATIONMASTER'S WIFE

918
00:58:41,561 --> 00:58:42,961
WOMEN IN NEW YORK

919
00:58:44,841 --> 00:58:51,921
GERMANY IN AUTUMN

920
00:58:52,601 --> 00:58:54,441
October 1977.

921
00:58:54,561 --> 00:58:59,241
After RAF members fail to forcibly secure
the release of their three leaders,

922
00:58:59,361 --> 00:59:03,201
the latter allegedly commit suicide
in their cells.

923
00:59:03,321 --> 00:59:05,281
Fear of more terrorist activity

924
00:59:05,401 --> 00:59:08,561
leads to incommunicado confinement,
and persecution of RAF sympathizers.

925
00:59:08,681 --> 00:59:12,321
Germany is close to
a state of emergency:

926
00:59:12,441 --> 00:59:15,961
One of the FRG's worst ever crises.

927
00:59:16,081 --> 00:59:19,441
We all felt we had to react.

928
00:59:19,561 --> 00:59:23,001
Because our generation

929
00:59:23,121 --> 00:59:26,321
and the image of our generation
were at stake.

930
00:59:26,441 --> 00:59:29,001
But while we were still talking,

931
00:59:29,121 --> 00:59:34,521
Rainer was swiftly filming
his own contribution in his apartment.

932
00:59:41,321 --> 00:59:45,521
I don't know.
They had a gun and shot themselves.

933
00:59:47,601 --> 00:59:50,401
Nobody knows
how the weapons got inside.

934
00:59:54,481 --> 00:59:58,881
An international commission
has to investigate

935
00:59:59,001 --> 01:00:01,201
whether it was suicide or not.

936
01:00:02,241 --> 01:00:04,241
It...

937
01:00:04,361 --> 01:00:08,681
shocked all of us deeply when we saw it.

938
01:00:08,801 --> 01:00:12,001
We said,
"You can't put that in our film.

939
01:00:12,841 --> 01:00:18,201
At best it's a Fassbinder film,
but not one of our collective's films."

940
01:00:18,321 --> 01:00:21,361
You might even literally say

941
01:00:21,481 --> 01:00:26,801
that the high intentions of the film
are fouled up

942
01:00:26,921 --> 01:00:30,881
by his sitting around
completely naked,

943
01:00:31,001 --> 01:00:34,881
being provocative like that.

944
01:00:35,001 --> 01:00:39,481
But Alexander Kluge recognised at once

945
01:00:39,601 --> 01:00:43,681
that it was the most important
contribution to the matter.

946
01:00:43,801 --> 01:00:49,441
When the pilot was shot
in Mogadishu or Aden,

947
01:00:49,561 --> 01:00:53,721
you said that for every person
shot in Aden,

948
01:00:53,841 --> 01:00:56,561
you want a terrorist shot
in Stammheim Prison.

949
01:00:56,681 --> 01:00:58,641
- Yes. In public.
- In public?

950
01:00:58,761 --> 01:01:01,161
- Yes.
- Is that democratic?

951
01:01:01,281 --> 01:01:04,241
No, it's not democratic.
But neither was...

952
01:01:04,361 --> 01:01:07,121
hijacking that plane and announcing,

953
01:01:07,241 --> 01:01:09,641
"We'll shoot them one after another."

954
01:01:09,761 --> 01:01:12,921
What if you'd been on board? Or me?

955
01:01:13,041 --> 01:01:17,641
How would you have felt?
You have to consider that.

956
01:01:17,761 --> 01:01:21,281
- An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?
- No, not that.

957
01:01:21,401 --> 01:01:27,201
But in a situation like that,
democracy won't get you anywhere.

958
01:01:27,321 --> 01:01:33,921
His segment has lost none of its power
as a defining document.

959
01:01:34,041 --> 01:01:38,121
The scene of him naked,
and the one with him and his mother.

960
01:01:38,241 --> 01:01:40,921
That really is the conversation

961
01:01:41,041 --> 01:01:45,521
that, for generations,
was missing in post-war Germany.

962
01:01:45,641 --> 01:01:48,961
Here we have it in its essence.

963
01:01:59,801 --> 01:02:03,521
It was Germany, 1945.
The war was over.

964
01:02:04,281 --> 01:02:06,961
There were lots of people
from the German East

965
01:02:07,681 --> 01:02:12,081
who had fled the Russians
to the so-called West

966
01:02:12,201 --> 01:02:14,561
where the Americans and English
and so on were.

967
01:02:16,361 --> 01:02:20,801
Suddenly there were all these relatives

968
01:02:20,921 --> 01:02:25,321
who would normally
have had no reason to stay with us

969
01:02:25,441 --> 01:02:27,241
who were there.

970
01:02:28,641 --> 01:02:31,681
My father, a doctor,
had his surgery there, too.

971
01:02:31,801 --> 01:02:36,601
On top of that,
because we had a very large flat,

972
01:02:36,721 --> 01:02:40,721
my father rented out some of the rooms.

973
01:02:40,841 --> 01:02:46,601
So there was quite a number of adults
who were there regularly.

974
01:02:53,401 --> 01:02:55,201
THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN

975
01:02:55,321 --> 01:02:58,001
I relied more on what I could...

976
01:02:59,601 --> 01:03:03,241
what I could remember
in terms of emotions.

977
01:03:03,361 --> 01:03:07,801
My mother pulling on stockings,
the way she...

978
01:03:07,921 --> 01:03:11,561
I don't know, combed her hair.
Things like that.

979
01:03:11,681 --> 01:03:15,881
I used them far more
than any photographic material.

980
01:03:16,001 --> 01:03:19,441
I approached the story
in very personal terms.

981
01:03:19,561 --> 01:03:24,481
So often women
would come up, would run up,

982
01:03:27,601 --> 01:03:29,761
and still do,

983
01:03:29,881 --> 01:03:32,121
to hug me and say,

984
01:03:32,241 --> 01:03:34,561
"Thank you for Maria Braun."

985
01:03:35,681 --> 01:03:39,121
The film was incredibly important
for women.

986
01:03:39,241 --> 01:03:42,041
Because for them
it was a film where the woman

987
01:03:42,161 --> 01:03:46,641
finally understood
she had to step out of the shadows

988
01:03:47,241 --> 01:03:51,321
and that she could control her own life.

989
01:03:51,441 --> 01:03:57,121
But where that led was something
they completely blanked out.

990
01:03:57,241 --> 01:04:00,521
They only saw the positive in it,

991
01:04:01,961 --> 01:04:05,441
whereas his take
was actually very negative.

992
01:04:06,041 --> 01:04:09,081
- You know each other?
- Extremely well.

993
01:04:09,201 --> 01:04:12,601
I didn't notice it all this time.

994
01:04:12,721 --> 01:04:14,841
Because I'm a master of disguise.

995
01:04:14,961 --> 01:04:20,281
A stooge of capitalism by day,
an agent of the working masses by night.

996
01:04:21,881 --> 01:04:24,841
The Mata Hari of the economic miracle.

997
01:04:26,681 --> 01:04:30,201
It was a result of being able
to divide oneself

998
01:04:30,321 --> 01:04:33,441
into a crass materialist and...

999
01:04:33,561 --> 01:04:35,801
an equally crass idealist.

1000
01:04:35,921 --> 01:04:38,601
It was the continuation
of German history.

1001
01:04:39,681 --> 01:04:43,801
In spite of idealism,
there'd been Hitler.

1002
01:04:44,881 --> 01:04:48,081
And afterwards,
people weren't overwhelmed by grief,

1003
01:04:48,201 --> 01:04:52,201
but acted as if nothing had happened,

1004
01:04:52,321 --> 01:04:59,401
and grew drunk
on the new materialist boom.

1005
01:05:00,681 --> 01:05:03,921
The whole thing ended in a sort of...

1006
01:05:05,361 --> 01:05:07,241
unreality.

1007
01:05:07,361 --> 01:05:11,761
What Maria Braun had saved herself for,

1008
01:05:11,881 --> 01:05:15,521
a real life, so to speak,
simply did not exist.

1009
01:05:15,641 --> 01:05:20,401
The unreal, the transient,
had taken its place.

1010
01:05:20,521 --> 01:05:24,681
When her husband arrived back
and started eating sardines

1011
01:05:24,801 --> 01:05:26,681
instead of giving her a kiss,

1012
01:05:26,801 --> 01:05:30,241
the disenchantment was complete.

1013
01:05:30,361 --> 01:05:35,081
A football game
counted more than their reunion.

1014
01:05:35,201 --> 01:05:37,441
As did Germany winning again.

1015
01:05:37,561 --> 01:05:40,401
And that they were both victims here.

1016
01:05:40,521 --> 01:05:42,761
Which is why it all had to explode.

1017
01:05:46,401 --> 01:05:49,921
1979.
A triumphant Berlinale premiere.

1018
01:05:50,041 --> 01:05:53,841
The leading actress and team
win two Silver Bears.

1019
01:05:53,961 --> 01:05:58,241
The director gets nothing,
but "Maria Braun" is a world success:

1020
01:05:58,361 --> 01:06:01,001
It's seen as the figurehead
of New German Cinema

1021
01:06:01,121 --> 01:06:06,041
and runs for 54 weeks
at New York's Lincoln Center.

1022
01:06:06,161 --> 01:06:08,841
It's no coincidence...

1023
01:06:08,961 --> 01:06:14,801
that Wim and I are the only ones
right now who are masters of our craft.

1024
01:06:14,921 --> 01:06:18,241
That's not arrogant,
don't misunderstand me.

1025
01:06:18,361 --> 01:06:23,201
But you need that if you want to deal
with very personal material.

1026
01:06:23,321 --> 01:06:26,721
If you don't have that mastery
and get personal,

1027
01:06:26,841 --> 01:06:31,761
then you're on a losing foot,
you're vulnerable and dilettantish

1028
01:06:31,881 --> 01:06:36,841
and subject to the public's rejection
in terms of external factors.

1029
01:06:36,961 --> 01:06:41,641
My goal is to make films
that are perfect,

1030
01:06:41,761 --> 01:06:46,441
that are indistinguishable from French,
Italian or American films,

1031
01:06:46,561 --> 01:06:50,441
but that remain personal reflections
of their maker.

1032
01:06:50,561 --> 01:06:55,121
I felt an amazing sense
of accomplishment.

1033
01:06:55,321 --> 01:06:59,681
I'd grasped what it means to edit a film
and be one with a director.

1034
01:06:59,761 --> 01:07:01,321
EDITOR

1035
01:07:01,401 --> 01:07:05,161
To really let go.
It was like a dance.

1036
01:07:05,281 --> 01:07:07,121
Then he said, "Listen,

1037
01:07:07,241 --> 01:07:08,641
sweetheart"

1038
01:07:09,801 --> 01:07:11,281
I thought, uh-oh!

1039
01:07:11,401 --> 01:07:14,961
And he said, "Hanna looks to...
one, two, three...

1040
01:07:15,081 --> 01:07:17,201
right, left, cut, cut, cut!"

1041
01:07:17,721 --> 01:07:21,881
I didn't make notes,
I just listened, in a daze.

1042
01:07:22,001 --> 01:07:24,641
I thought, I'm in deep shit!

1043
01:07:25,641 --> 01:07:31,081
I muddled my way for two nights,
then showed it to him.

1044
01:07:31,201 --> 01:07:35,161
About one scene he said,
"I said the shot from that angle,

1045
01:07:35,281 --> 01:07:37,201
not this one." Fine.

1046
01:07:37,721 --> 01:07:40,081
I was being pushed so hard.

1047
01:07:40,201 --> 01:07:43,841
I had no time to think,
and no one gave me a break by saying,

1048
01:07:43,961 --> 01:07:45,801
"Do you follow?"

1049
01:07:45,921 --> 01:07:48,761
Or "Need a hand?"
That didn't happen.

1050
01:07:54,041 --> 01:07:55,481
Armin!

1051
01:07:59,121 --> 01:08:03,801
Fassbinder meets butcher boy
Armin Meier at his favorite bar.

1052
01:08:03,921 --> 01:08:07,721
He becomes his lover
and acts in his film.

1053
01:08:07,841 --> 01:08:12,121
He's the first person
Fassbinder is to set up home with.

1054
01:08:14,601 --> 01:08:18,521
I thought, those two,
it can only end badly.

1055
01:08:18,641 --> 01:08:22,161
And it did.
Intellectually, too, of course.

1056
01:08:22,281 --> 01:08:23,881
It's my flat!

1057
01:08:33,561 --> 01:08:35,881
OK, OK, OK.

1058
01:08:36,721 --> 01:08:38,121
Now get out.

1059
01:08:38,241 --> 01:08:39,601
Get out, I said!

1060
01:08:39,721 --> 01:08:41,161
They split up.

1061
01:08:41,281 --> 01:08:45,001
He did it intentionally,
out of despair,

1062
01:08:45,121 --> 01:08:49,521
because he couldn't cope
with the complex question of Armin,

1063
01:08:49,641 --> 01:08:52,561
and because he... wanted to work.

1064
01:08:52,681 --> 01:08:56,441
In the end Armin realized
Rainer didn't love him anymore,

1065
01:08:56,561 --> 01:09:00,081
that he wanted to fob him off
with a different flat

1066
01:09:00,201 --> 01:09:04,681
or the one he was in...
and money, whatever.

1067
01:09:04,801 --> 01:09:07,561
Armin was found dead in the flat.

1068
01:09:07,681 --> 01:09:12,761
The cause is noted in the so-called
post-mortem examination report.

1069
01:09:12,881 --> 01:09:16,761
Poppers, cocaine, heroin, you name it.

1070
01:09:16,881 --> 01:09:20,521
Maybe it was an act of despair,
I've no idea.

1071
01:09:21,841 --> 01:09:27,881
But he died of an overdose
from the whole mixture.

1072
01:09:29,441 --> 01:09:31,681
And afterwards, Rainer...

1073
01:09:32,841 --> 01:09:37,201
He never went back to the flat,
not once.

1074
01:09:37,321 --> 01:09:41,001
For him it was traumatic.
And he felt guilty.

1075
01:09:41,121 --> 01:09:43,921
And he was seen as guilty

1076
01:09:44,041 --> 01:09:48,121
by those in the group,
which had long since fallen apart.

1077
01:09:48,241 --> 01:09:51,681
But there was still
"He killed him" and so on.

1078
01:09:52,481 --> 01:09:54,601
In the meantime the funeral was held.

1079
01:09:54,721 --> 01:10:00,441
The press asked, "ls Fassbinder here?"
Of course he wasn't.

1080
01:10:00,561 --> 01:10:04,001
For weeks, months,
I'd had no news from him.

1081
01:10:04,121 --> 01:10:07,841
Then I heard
he'd made a film in Frankfurt,

1082
01:10:07,961 --> 01:10:09,601
In a Year of 13 Moons.

1083
01:10:09,721 --> 01:10:13,761
For but an instant
give me back the present!

1084
01:10:13,881 --> 01:10:18,041
Concept Script Production Design
Editing Camera Directing

1085
01:10:18,161 --> 01:10:21,681
Though a man be silenced by pain,

1086
01:10:21,801 --> 01:10:25,121
a god gave me the power to say...
how much I...

1087
01:10:25,241 --> 01:10:28,961
I can't tell you how it was.
It was so...

1088
01:10:29,481 --> 01:10:32,721
It was so complete.
You could feel

1089
01:10:34,121 --> 01:10:39,841
how he must have pulled himself together
to transpose so much pain in that way.

1090
01:10:44,921 --> 01:10:47,601
He earned enough money

1091
01:10:47,721 --> 01:10:50,521
that I could stop hustling.

1092
01:10:50,641 --> 01:10:52,961
He wanted to provide for me.

1093
01:10:53,081 --> 01:10:56,641
I just gave him a start,
bought the flat.

1094
01:10:56,761 --> 01:11:02,281
But these last years I've lived off him.
He wants to make me happy. I know it.

1095
01:11:02,401 --> 01:11:05,961
Believe me, Zora,
I really tried, but in the end

1096
01:11:06,081 --> 01:11:09,161
he admitted
he didn't have what it takes.

1097
01:11:09,281 --> 01:11:15,041
Still, I helped him secure
his chance of survival.

1098
01:11:15,161 --> 01:11:18,801
Officially I was his assistant.
He wanted to edit.

1099
01:11:18,921 --> 01:11:21,641
And that's what we did.

1100
01:11:21,761 --> 01:11:25,841
I said, "You edit, I assist."
I totally played along.

1101
01:11:25,961 --> 01:11:30,321
He splices the black leader at the front,
click, click, clock,

1102
01:11:30,441 --> 01:11:33,601
removes the first clap,
puts it back on the rack.

1103
01:11:33,721 --> 01:11:36,601
Then he says, "Like that."
And he's gone.

1104
01:11:39,161 --> 01:11:43,361
Germany's most expensive TV series
of its day, Berlin Alexanderplatz.

1105
01:11:43,481 --> 01:11:47,641
This story of fascism's rise
has fascinated Fassbinder

1106
01:11:47,761 --> 01:11:49,441
since the age of 19.

1107
01:11:49,561 --> 01:11:53,161
He has less than a year
to film over 14 hours of film

1108
01:11:53,281 --> 01:11:55,601
featuring 50 lead roles.

1109
01:11:56,721 --> 01:11:59,441
I remember that Horst Wendlandt,

1110
01:11:59,561 --> 01:12:03,761
a well-known producer back then...

1111
01:12:03,881 --> 01:12:07,081
Sadly he's no longer alive.

1112
01:12:07,201 --> 01:12:08,801
He said to me,

1113
01:12:08,921 --> 01:12:10,841
"It's impossible!

1114
01:12:10,961 --> 01:12:13,561
It's an enormous production.

1115
01:12:13,681 --> 01:12:16,521
There's no chance he'll survive it.

1116
01:12:16,641 --> 01:12:20,241
You have to sign on
another director as backup."

1117
01:12:21,201 --> 01:12:23,121
- It was like that?
- Yes.

1118
01:12:23,241 --> 01:12:26,881
- Why?
- Well, because of all of his, you know,

1119
01:12:27,001 --> 01:12:31,441
use of drugs and alcohol, and so on...

1120
01:12:31,561 --> 01:12:35,761
He was seen as not being up to
such an undertaking.

1121
01:12:35,881 --> 01:12:37,921
Not up to it physically.

1122
01:12:38,601 --> 01:12:41,441
I can only answer...

1123
01:12:41,561 --> 01:12:45,561
by saying that right up to
the first day of shooting,

1124
01:12:45,681 --> 01:12:49,641
he tried everything to get out of directing.
And from the first...

1125
01:12:49,761 --> 01:12:52,081
- Really?
- Yes!

1126
01:12:52,201 --> 01:12:56,281
He suggested me,
but Xaver Schwarzenberger said,

1127
01:12:56,401 --> 01:12:58,321
"I'll only do it with you."

1128
01:12:58,441 --> 01:13:01,361
Then he wanted Lowitsch
to play the lead.

1129
01:13:02,641 --> 01:13:04,481
Complete chaos.

1130
01:13:04,601 --> 01:13:06,681
- On Berlin Alexanderplatz?
- Yes.

1131
01:13:06,801 --> 01:13:11,801
But from day one of shooting
he was on top of everything. Amazing!

1132
01:13:11,921 --> 01:13:16,921
They were filming a scene with Sukowa,
her first ever big scene.

1133
01:13:17,041 --> 01:13:19,281
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR/PRODUCER

1134
01:13:19,361 --> 01:13:22,161
I was standing around and had to...

1135
01:13:22,281 --> 01:13:25,201
- Which episode is this?
- No idea.

1136
01:13:25,321 --> 01:13:28,441
It must be one of the first scenes.

1137
01:13:28,561 --> 01:13:31,841
- When she's brought in.
- That's it.

1138
01:13:31,961 --> 01:13:35,401
I was standing around
and he said to me,

1139
01:13:35,521 --> 01:13:39,921
"Now I'll show you how to direct.
What it's about."

1140
01:13:40,041 --> 01:13:42,361
He sat under the table,

1141
01:13:43,041 --> 01:13:46,001
gently laid a hand on her thigh,

1142
01:13:46,121 --> 01:13:49,721
very gently,
and looked up at her from below.

1143
01:13:49,841 --> 01:13:50,841
Franz,

1144
01:13:50,961 --> 01:13:52,801
leave politics alone.

1145
01:13:53,481 --> 01:13:55,321
I'm not in politics.

1146
01:13:55,441 --> 01:13:57,881
And she did the scene fantastically.

1147
01:13:58,761 --> 01:14:01,281
Berlin Alexanderplatz,

1148
01:14:01,401 --> 01:14:04,601
a series for television

1149
01:14:05,801 --> 01:14:07,841
based on the novel by Alfred Doblin.

1150
01:14:07,961 --> 01:14:10,281
He more or less dictated it.

1151
01:14:10,401 --> 01:14:15,321
He went through the novel,

1152
01:14:16,321 --> 01:14:23,561
and then dictated the script,
page by page into a Dictaphone.

1153
01:14:23,681 --> 01:14:25,881
Then it was typed up.

1154
01:14:30,401 --> 01:14:32,121
Eight hundred...

1155
01:14:33,361 --> 01:14:34,841
and forty-three.

1156
01:14:34,961 --> 01:14:37,161
At least I think so.

1157
01:14:38,161 --> 01:14:42,521
Street in front of Fabisch and Co.

1158
01:14:42,641 --> 01:14:45,001
Franz, colon:

1159
01:14:47,161 --> 01:14:50,641
He has to buy a tie clip to go with it,

1160
01:14:50,761 --> 01:14:55,241
and when he's bought one,
it doesn't work, he can't clip his tie.

1161
01:14:55,361 --> 01:14:57,481
It's a swindle, it embitters people

1162
01:14:57,601 --> 01:15:02,321
and pushes Germany deeper
into the misery it's already in.

1163
01:15:03,441 --> 01:15:06,081
It's a swindle, it embitters people

1164
01:15:06,201 --> 01:15:10,841
and pushes Germany deeper
into the calamity it's already in.

1165
01:15:11,961 --> 01:15:12,961
Thanks.

1166
01:15:13,081 --> 01:15:17,521
I'm certain that a precise description
of the Weimar Republic,

1167
01:15:17,641 --> 01:15:19,721
like Alexanderplatz,

1168
01:15:21,641 --> 01:15:24,281
has something to say about our republic,

1169
01:15:24,401 --> 01:15:26,601
a republic that I think

1170
01:15:27,681 --> 01:15:32,401
is moving to the right
like the Weimar Republic did.

1171
01:15:32,521 --> 01:15:38,001
And if the next elections
go the way I hope they won't,

1172
01:15:38,121 --> 01:15:40,521
then I really don't know what'll happen.

1173
01:15:41,561 --> 01:15:43,601
There'll still be entertainment.

1174
01:15:43,721 --> 01:15:46,361
Not for me in Germany. I'll leave.

1175
01:15:48,041 --> 01:15:50,361
- And go where?
- To America.

1176
01:15:51,441 --> 01:15:53,201
We both wanted that:

1177
01:15:53,321 --> 01:15:56,561
To go to New York and find a flat.
That was the plan.

1178
01:15:56,641 --> 01:15:58,401
FASSBINDER'S PARTNER

1179
01:15:58,481 --> 01:16:02,241
But then came the next plan
and the next...

1180
01:16:11,281 --> 01:16:13,881
VERONIKA VOSS

1181
01:16:17,121 --> 01:16:22,641
In Veronika Voss, Fassbinder eyes
the draining film industry itself.

1182
01:16:22,761 --> 01:16:28,321
He ends the story of a drug addicted star
with the death of its heroine.

1183
01:16:28,441 --> 01:16:30,881
At the 1982 Berlinale

1184
01:16:31,001 --> 01:16:34,921
the film brings its director
the coveted Golden Bear.

1185
01:16:35,961 --> 01:16:40,601
I once had a film in Berlin
I expected a prize for.

1186
01:16:40,721 --> 01:16:44,881
Effi Briest.
I was surprised when I didn't win.

1187
01:16:45,001 --> 01:16:47,081
Nothing surprises me anymore.

1188
01:16:47,681 --> 01:16:50,201
He kept getting better,

1189
01:16:50,321 --> 01:16:53,001
and kept getting more recognition.

1190
01:16:53,121 --> 01:16:56,201
But he realized
that wasn't it, either.

1191
01:16:56,321 --> 01:16:59,001
And so he struck the pose of the...

1192
01:16:59,841 --> 01:17:02,281
exhausted ruler or emperor...

1193
01:17:04,001 --> 01:17:06,801
in a state of profound melancholy.

1194
01:17:08,081 --> 01:17:11,641
He said,
"The worst thing about success is

1195
01:17:11,761 --> 01:17:16,601
people aren't really the way they are
when they're with me."

1196
01:17:17,681 --> 01:17:22,441
It was a combination of many things.
There was disillusionment,

1197
01:17:22,561 --> 01:17:27,321
combined, no doubt,
with lots of stimulants.

1198
01:17:27,441 --> 01:17:30,281
Because he'd totally burned himself out.

1199
01:17:35,521 --> 01:17:38,961
Maybe it's comparable to pop groups,

1200
01:17:39,081 --> 01:17:43,321
who have to go out on stage
to sing and rock.

1201
01:17:43,441 --> 01:17:47,881
They aren't drinking chamomile tea
backstage.

1202
01:17:48,001 --> 01:17:50,881
They have to get cranked up.

1203
01:17:51,001 --> 01:17:56,041
And if you make five films
and every day need new ideas,

1204
01:17:56,161 --> 01:17:59,161
you're going to reach for these means.

1205
01:17:59,281 --> 01:18:03,681
Plus he had all these yes-men
and bootlickers around him...

1206
01:18:03,801 --> 01:18:08,521
I really hated that,
I saw them for what they were,

1207
01:18:08,641 --> 01:18:11,321
what they wanted from him,

1208
01:18:11,441 --> 01:18:15,401
and how they ingratiated themselves
with him.

1209
01:18:16,641 --> 01:18:19,561
Men are crazy about women addicts.

1210
01:18:19,681 --> 01:18:22,841
- Need a shot for your comeback?
- Naturally.

1211
01:18:22,961 --> 01:18:24,561
I thought so.

1212
01:18:25,201 --> 01:18:27,921
And how do you intend to pay for it?

1213
01:18:33,361 --> 01:18:34,881
With my salary.

1214
01:18:35,001 --> 01:18:41,041
Like a man giving a woman
a bouquet of roses...

1215
01:18:41,161 --> 01:18:44,121
I knew where he'd be

1216
01:18:44,241 --> 01:18:46,721
and took him the roses.

1217
01:18:46,841 --> 01:18:52,401
I took his hand, kissed it
and gave him the roses.

1218
01:18:52,521 --> 01:18:58,721
But... I knew
he was beyond reach then.

1219
01:18:58,841 --> 01:19:02,001
That there was nothing left to...

1220
01:19:03,361 --> 01:19:04,961
It was too late.

1221
01:19:05,081 --> 01:19:06,961
- Really?
- Yes.

1222
01:19:07,961 --> 01:19:09,361
Why is that?

1223
01:19:09,921 --> 01:19:13,801
Without knowing
how deeply into drugs he was,

1224
01:19:13,921 --> 01:19:18,841
since he was always very focused
when shooting...

1225
01:19:18,961 --> 01:19:23,721
There are...
I knew there was something

1226
01:19:24,561 --> 01:19:27,761
that had got out of hand long ago.

1227
01:19:29,801 --> 01:19:31,361
Then let's keep going.

1228
01:19:34,721 --> 01:19:36,921
Adio...

1229
01:19:37,041 --> 01:19:41,881
Adio amore!

1230
01:19:46,481 --> 01:19:49,361
He's someone who led a kamikaze life.

1231
01:19:49,481 --> 01:19:54,161
That is, the life of someone
who doesn't care about anything.

1232
01:19:54,281 --> 01:19:56,921
He just wants to live in the now.

1233
01:19:57,041 --> 01:20:00,481
That's what counts.
That's why it's called Kamikaze.

1234
01:20:03,841 --> 01:20:06,841
He was finished. Wiped out.

1235
01:20:08,001 --> 01:20:12,761
There's always a reason
if someone takes this or that...

1236
01:20:12,881 --> 01:20:14,561
and uses drugs...

1237
01:20:14,681 --> 01:20:16,921
There's always a deeper reason.

1238
01:20:17,041 --> 01:20:19,601
There was so much pressure...

1239
01:20:19,721 --> 01:20:24,681
It took him so long
to get the money for Querelle.

1240
01:20:24,801 --> 01:20:27,641
And the pressure to have another hit

1241
01:20:27,761 --> 01:20:31,161
was incredibly strong.

1242
01:20:31,281 --> 01:20:34,601
His only way of coping was...
You do a line, feel good...

1243
01:20:34,721 --> 01:20:38,641
He has this big glass of whiskey.

1244
01:20:38,761 --> 01:20:40,841
It's all in my documentary.

1245
01:20:40,961 --> 01:20:44,201
The day goes by and you barely survive.

1246
01:20:44,321 --> 01:20:45,961
But by night time...

1247
01:20:46,081 --> 01:20:51,041
I always say, if you floor the gas pedal

1248
01:20:51,161 --> 01:20:55,481
while pressing the brake,
you destroy the transmission.

1249
01:20:56,081 --> 01:20:59,641
He wanted out,
to get off the roller-coaster.

1250
01:20:59,761 --> 01:21:02,961
- And do what?
- Just take a break.

1251
01:21:03,801 --> 01:21:05,361
He said one time,

1252
01:21:06,161 --> 01:21:08,081
"I'm gonna live another life."

1253
01:21:08,921 --> 01:21:10,641
It was an interesting sentence.

1254
01:21:10,761 --> 01:21:14,681
Very interesting.
I asked, "What'll it be like?"

1255
01:21:14,801 --> 01:21:16,801
His "I'm gonna live another life..."

1256
01:21:17,961 --> 01:21:22,241
And he said,
"Well, we'll live a different life."

1257
01:21:31,801 --> 01:21:35,921
I saw that Rainer's life
was drawing to an end.

1258
01:21:37,201 --> 01:21:39,561
It was so hot...

1259
01:21:39,681 --> 01:21:42,281
Two Mandrax, two Valium,

1260
01:21:42,401 --> 01:21:45,201
that fucking cut cocaine,

1261
01:21:45,321 --> 01:21:50,441
and that fucking, that incredibly
and unspeakably irresponsible Mick...

1262
01:21:51,201 --> 01:21:55,161
All that led to his end.
Physically he was healthy.

1263
01:21:55,281 --> 01:21:57,401
We turn here, right?

1264
01:22:01,121 --> 01:22:03,401
I stayed far away...

1265
01:22:03,521 --> 01:22:05,961
Clemensstrasse and the apartment.

1266
01:22:06,081 --> 01:22:10,001
I was close by at times
but I never went in.

1267
01:22:10,761 --> 01:22:12,721
I just couldn't.

1268
01:22:13,401 --> 01:22:15,161
Goodness!

1269
01:22:17,401 --> 01:22:19,081
There was a door here.

1270
01:22:21,761 --> 01:22:23,281
I can't believe it.

1271
01:22:25,081 --> 01:22:28,081
Rainer would be bent over laughing.

1272
01:22:28,201 --> 01:22:31,201
Sorry, but all this baby stuff!

1273
01:22:31,761 --> 01:22:33,521
It's so sweet!

1274
01:22:34,281 --> 01:22:38,361
He had a deep longing for a child,
a deep longing for...

1275
01:22:40,601 --> 01:22:41,801
a family.

1276
01:22:41,921 --> 01:22:47,041
But the family naturally wasn't
a Mom-Dad-one-baby family.

1277
01:22:47,161 --> 01:22:48,641
It was...

1278
01:22:48,761 --> 01:22:55,601
Rainer's real wish
was for us to live with a man he loved.

1279
01:22:57,641 --> 01:23:00,321
I asked him, "Where do I fit in?"

1280
01:23:01,081 --> 01:23:02,681
And he said,

1281
01:23:02,801 --> 01:23:04,961
"Well, you're the one I love."

1282
01:23:20,201 --> 01:23:24,841
We'd agreed we'd each make
our own documentary about our films,

1283
01:23:24,961 --> 01:23:27,401
not let some TV people do them.

1284
01:23:27,521 --> 01:23:30,441
So I went to interview him.

1285
01:23:30,561 --> 01:23:32,161
- Sorry?
- Fassbinder.

1286
01:23:32,281 --> 01:23:35,241
I went to Munich to interview him

1287
01:23:35,361 --> 01:23:39,041
the day before his death.
He was sitting there...

1288
01:23:39,161 --> 01:23:41,601
- The day before?
- Yes.

1289
01:23:41,721 --> 01:23:44,841
It still exists.
We just need to find it.

1290
01:23:44,961 --> 01:23:49,481
He was wearing a red shirt,
his hat, sunglasses.

1291
01:23:49,601 --> 01:23:54,481
He was sitting there,
so completely exhausted.

1292
01:23:55,161 --> 01:23:59,161
And the next day...
He died that night.

1293
01:23:59,281 --> 01:24:01,441
Thirty-two years ago,

1294
01:24:01,561 --> 01:24:06,801
I left the flat at night to go
to the cutting room at Bavaria Studio,

1295
01:24:07,801 --> 01:24:11,641
and I came back at 4am... just before 5.

1296
01:24:11,761 --> 01:24:14,201
- Where did you find him?
- On his bed.

1297
01:24:15,481 --> 01:24:17,321
He was lying on his bed.

1298
01:24:17,441 --> 01:24:19,201
The TV was hissing.

1299
01:24:19,321 --> 01:24:22,921
He had a burned-out cigarette
in his hand.

1300
01:24:23,641 --> 01:24:27,441
And he was lying there.
His head was resting easy,

1301
01:24:27,561 --> 01:24:29,441
facing this way, with a smile.

1302
01:24:29,561 --> 01:24:32,641
"...found Mr Fassbinder
lying lifeless..." Right.

1303
01:24:33,561 --> 01:24:36,841
For half an hour
she tried to shake him awake.

1304
01:24:36,961 --> 01:24:39,361
My God! How awful!

1305
01:24:40,601 --> 01:24:43,841
Didn't she say she came to get me?

1306
01:24:44,441 --> 01:24:47,801
Wolf wouldn't wake up.
I shook him 'til he woke up.

1307
01:24:47,921 --> 01:24:49,921
He came over

1308
01:24:50,041 --> 01:24:54,561
and lifted him up,
and then he said, "He's dead."

1309
01:24:54,681 --> 01:25:00,201
What can I say? I knew
my whole life was going to change.

1310
01:25:00,321 --> 01:25:05,241
Life in...
West Germany was going to change.

1311
01:25:05,361 --> 01:25:07,961
One of its leading public figures

1312
01:25:08,081 --> 01:25:12,401
who had documented German history
with "Maria Braun"

1313
01:25:12,521 --> 01:25:17,561
and created international understanding
for Germany...

1314
01:25:17,681 --> 01:25:22,401
His death was the end
of a great friendship

1315
01:25:22,521 --> 01:25:26,001
and the end of an era.

1316
01:25:26,121 --> 01:25:28,841
- You realized that?
- Immediately, yes.

1317
01:25:28,961 --> 01:25:34,721
And the shock it unleashed,
the waves of shock, continued for years.

1318
01:25:35,601 --> 01:25:39,961
I think I had to lead
the life I led to lead...

1319
01:25:40,081 --> 01:25:44,441
I had to lead the life I led
to be able to make my films.

1320
01:25:54,321 --> 01:26:00,121
I really believed you would stand
at my grave and weep over me.

1321
01:26:00,241 --> 01:26:02,201
That was childish, too.

1322
01:26:03,161 --> 01:26:04,961
I had to accept

1323
01:26:05,681 --> 01:26:08,881
that I am alone,
was alone, will be alone.

1324
01:26:10,521 --> 01:26:13,121
You will not come

1325
01:26:13,241 --> 01:26:15,761
to heal, to redeem.

1326
01:26:15,881 --> 01:26:17,721
No one will.

1327
01:26:20,401 --> 01:26:22,921
Somehow each of us had...

1328
01:26:24,841 --> 01:26:28,601
you know,
a private relationship with him.

1329
01:26:29,441 --> 01:26:34,041
Because he was so existentially linked
to each of us

1330
01:26:34,161 --> 01:26:37,721
that it had a direct effect on your life.

1331
01:26:38,481 --> 01:26:43,241
So all of us had our burden to bear.

1332
01:26:44,201 --> 01:26:48,001
And had to come to terms with it.

1333
01:26:50,641 --> 01:26:51,881
Me, too.

1334
01:26:52,001 --> 01:26:55,441
That's why I left Munich

1335
01:26:56,321 --> 01:26:58,241
for West Berlin.

1336
01:26:58,361 --> 01:27:00,161
Because I...

1337
01:27:02,041 --> 01:27:06,281
It started over whether
he should be buried

1338
01:27:06,401 --> 01:27:09,881
with other notables
in Bogenhausen Cemetery.

1339
01:27:10,001 --> 01:27:16,041
The outcry over whether
that queer bastard, you know...

1340
01:27:16,161 --> 01:27:18,761
should be allowed a grave there.

1341
01:27:19,641 --> 01:27:22,441
Think anyone would hire us?

1342
01:27:22,561 --> 01:27:26,001
"You? You never did anything for us."

1343
01:27:26,121 --> 01:27:29,561
They came crawling
while he was still alive.

1344
01:27:29,681 --> 01:27:35,961
Begging us to help them
gain access to him.

1345
01:27:36,081 --> 01:27:38,641
No sooner was he buried than...

1346
01:27:38,761 --> 01:27:41,961
What would you say to Fassbinder now
if you could?

1347
01:27:44,441 --> 01:27:46,281
Thank you...

1348
01:27:47,041 --> 01:27:49,401
For such a wondrous time

1349
01:27:49,521 --> 01:27:53,041
Thank you
for the joy you gave

1350
01:27:53,161 --> 01:27:55,761
If he could hear me now,

1351
01:27:55,881 --> 01:27:57,961
he'd find it really strange.

1352
01:27:59,041 --> 01:28:05,241
Maybe it's exactly the proof of love
he always wanted to hear.

1353
01:28:05,361 --> 01:28:09,321
If I'd said something like that to him...

1354
01:28:09,441 --> 01:28:17,401
It's exactly what you learn
every time you lose someone...

1355
01:28:17,521 --> 01:28:20,281
That you shouldn't
put off things for later

1356
01:28:20,401 --> 01:28:24,641
because maybe it'll be too late to say it.

1357
01:28:25,641 --> 01:28:29,041
So, all the nice things you can say...

1358
01:28:30,521 --> 01:28:31,761
Say them!

1359
01:28:34,161 --> 01:28:35,161
Yes.

1360
01:28:39,081 --> 01:28:40,921
You're nice, I like you.

1361
01:28:44,361 --> 01:28:46,121
You can't say a thing.