Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pia Frohlich and Peter Märthesheimer
1981/West Germany
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
Lola: A whore is something for sale, like that Ming thing there. Except you can touch them, and they’re not so rare.
Fassbinder’s scathing critique of capitalism in the “New Germany” is also a feast for the eyes.
The year is 1957. Lola (Barbara Sukowa) is a singer/prostitute and a favorite at the brothel she works at. She is being kept by a wealthy and thoroughly corrupt building contractor, Schuckert. As the movie begins, Lola is thinking she does not get nearly the respect she deserves. Simultaneously, a new building commissioner is coming to town. Van Bohm (Armin Mueller-Stahl) is a kindly, traditional, strait-laced man with a vision of building apartments for the community.
At first, von Bohm is enthusiastic about Schuckert’s proposal. Schuckert is enthusiastic because he can milk millions out of the community. The community fathers are as corrupt as he is. When Schuckert tells Lola Von Bohm is too good for her, she accepts the challenge. Before too long, Lola figures out how she can play the two men against each other and come out on top.
This film is Fassbinder’s take on The Blue Angel (1930). He adds brilliant color to the story as well as a lot of wit. The acting is fantastic and so is the script and filmmaking. Recommended.
No trailer with subtitles
Too obvious but the only possible missing theme song
I saw Berlin Alexanderplatz a few weeks ago. I mostly liked it, but it took me a couple weeks to watch it and I started calling it Berlin Alles Underpantz before I was done.
So I’m a bit Fassbindered out at present.
However, I’ve not seen Lola and it sounds very good and I’ll keep it in mind for the next time I’m in the mood for German Cinema.
It’s up there with Fassbinder’s best in my opinion. I thought about watching Berlin Alexanderplatz but wasn’t dedicated enough to tackle it.
I liked Berlin Alles Underpantz a lot, but it has its ups and downs, and some of the downs are quite lengthy.
I have a couple of friends who are Fassbinder fans, but have never tackled Berlin Alles Underpantz. I kept my sanity by texting them frequently and making fun of it.
“Too obvious but the only possible missing theme song”: as soon as I saw the title this one leapt out also – it may be “Too obvious” but it is a corker as well.
“Berlin Alles Underpantz” – now that was funny!… and it made me think of this epic clip (controversal but I have no idea why – to me it was obvious that the holcost was not bring glorified.)- there’s a lot of very well done German history in this! WARNING – it’s raucous… but IMO the louder the better!
Wow! What a beautiful video!