FORL 3160, European Cinema Minutes for July 7, 2004 class

The writing assignment for Thursday, July 8 was explained. Four essays were handed out. They were to be read, graded with an A, C, D or D-, and the grade justified in 30 to 50 words each.

Ali, Fear Eats the Soul German, 1973, director R.W. Fassbinder

Professor Reimer reviewed the concept of understanding or learning about a particular culture or history, one can have a richer experience watching certain films. That was the case of the film clip we watched Tuesday from Ali, Fear Eats the Soul, a German film from 1973. The director, R.W. Fassbinder, re-made a Hollywood film, All that Heaven Allows, from 1956, directed by Douglas Sirk. This clip from Ali, Fear Eats the Soul was made more interesting by understanding German culture and history. Nazi history of the 1930’s and 1940’s, the Munich Olympics of 1972, and the booming economy of the 1950’s and 60s enhanced our understanding of Fassbinder’s vision of prejudice in Germany in the 1970’s. Knowing the choice of music during Ali and Emmy’s first dance was “The Black Gypsy”, underscored Ali’s status as an itinerant worker from Morocco, a young black man and a Muslim, dancing with a 50-something German widow.

Professor Reimer stated that by accessing or activating a particular culture and history one could more fully appreciate the message of a film. Professor Reimer explained the film, Winter Sleepers by Tom Tykwer, on the other hand, did not require access to a particular culture or history in order to appreciate the director’s vision. A careful observation of the film’s operators was what one needed for a full understanding of Tykwer’s film.

A technical problem put this film clip on a back burner and we proceeded to watch another film clip, Nobody Loves Me by Doris Doerrie, a German film from 1996 – 97. Again careful observation is the key to understanding the message in Doerrie’s film.

Nobody Loves Me 1996 German, director Doris Doerrie

Nobody Loves Me showed a woman at 30 taping a personal video while whining about her past lost loves, wearing black clothing with bone and skull earrings and rings and a black hat obscuring her face. Her self-presentation was depressing and off-putting. The camera, angles, and lighting described this woman at work, in the grocery, and in the car as a lonely, sad, and depressed young woman. Death seems to be a theme and Professor Reimer explained that the film included a ‘Death Class’ the young woman attended where a coffin was constructed and buried. The background music was the Edith Piaf song, “I Regret Nothing” that added to the mood of this clip.

Small group discussions were followed by a class discussion of this clip. The groups agreed the film was an emotional, personal woman’s film, and would not be a story a male director would likely tell. It was suggested that a woman writer with a male director might attempt to tell this story but the treatment would more likely be objective than personal. It was agreed that this film had a universal woman’s theme of the biological ticking clock, not solely grounded in German culture. The woman’s sadness might have resulted from a family trait or the hurt she had from her past relationships. The groups agreed that the style was dark, oppressive and depressing. The bone and skull jewelry was an accent on the theme of death. This woman lived alone without even pets for the last 4 years and continually took classes to connect to others outside of her job as an airport security checker. The film was leading to a somewhat happy ending, it was suggested, since she didn’t die, a so-called Grimm happy ending. Professor Reimer explained the remainder of the film revealed a Mother issue and the destruction of the coffin, at the same time wrecking the car of the man who had wronged her in the past.

Professor Reimer told us the Disney Company purchased the rights for this film but it had not yet remade the film.

Before the film clip from Nobody Loves Me began, the trailer for a comedy, The Monster, with Roberto Benigni was shown. Professor Reimer suggested that The Monster might be a candidate for a discussion of how a film with a universal theme could come from any culture or country regardless of the language or culture of the original film.

Winter Sleeper   German 1997, director Tom Tykwer

The next clip was Tykwer’s Winter Sleeper, a German film from 1997. The film opens with a young woman, Rebecca, wearing red pajamas, contemplating her thumb, pricked and bleeding. It was suggested that this element was a nod to Sleeping Beauty.  The following scenes introduce us to 3 other young people going about their lives, moving through a winter landscape at a relatively fast pace, compared the languid movements of the characters and their constant reclining poses. These characters were converging on the same place in the countryside after journeying by car, ferry, and train. The other young woman, wearing green clothing travels to Rebecca’s house by train after conferring with her over the phone. When she arrives at Rebecca’s she takes a nap on the couch, then goes to sleep in the bed. Rebecca’s lover, a young man with a blue scarf, arrives early the next morning and leaves the keys in his new car, in order to more quickly get inside and go to bed with Rebecca. Meanwhile another young man wearing brownish green travels by ferry and then drives to a bar, The Sleeper, to drink until too drunk to drive. He starts walking through the winter town where he finds a car with the keys left in the ignition. After exploring the exterior of Rebecca’s house and taking a photo of the lovers through the window, he gets in the car and starts driving away. While our drunken man was finding the new car of Rebecca’s lover, an older man, awakens from sleep as the alarm goes off, then takes a horse from the barn and loads it onto a horse car. When his little daughter asks to accompany him because the horse is sick and she is worried, the father refuses and takes her back to bed. The father starts the car in the early morning and doesn’t see his daughter sneak back out and into the front of the horse car as he pulls away from the farmyard. So begins a collision course of the stolen car and the farmer’s car pulling a horse car with the little girl aboard. A wreck ensues on the winter road in the early morning light.  Cause and effect drives Tykwer’s plot. It was suggested the costume colors were planned in advance by the director to use as indicators of lasting relationships or clashing affairs. Also a class member suggested since the Polish director, Krzystof Kieslowski, influenced Tykwer the colors red, blue and white were a nod to Kieslowski.

Diva   French 1981, director Jean Jacques Beineix

The final clip of the class was from the French director Jean Jacques Beineix titled, Diva from 1981. The film opens with a deliveryman entering an opera house, taking a seat in the audience and recording the song sung by a beautiful opera singer accompanied by an orchestra. In the audience are two men, maybe brothers wearing dark glasses and whispering together during the performance. The class discussion of this clip will continue on Thursday.

Respectfully submitted,

Catherine Johnson