I decided to view this film a second time after nearly 50 years when I learned of Ms Margit Carstensen's passing in June 2023. RIP, Margit! You were so talented and so wonderful to watch and admire.
The film is based on an original script written by Fassbinder on a 12-hour flight from Berlin to Los Angeles. Other co-scriptwriters were roped in to improve it. The film is one of the memorable works of Fassbinder because of several factors. The main reason is the exquisite casting Ms Carstensen in the title role and all the other ladies. The second reason is the cinematography of Michael Ballhaus (with the guidance of Fassbinder) with sequences of ladies just showing their feet in shoes, dancing on a furry carpet--leaving the viewer to imagine what was happening 5 feet above. The camera does capture and focus on Marlene (Irm Hermann) at some crucial moments. The perspective of the actions of the camera eye with and without the bed from the carpet-level, when used, are simply stunning. The third reason is the production design of Kurt Raab, with entire action captured in a small space with one large bed, mannequins and dolls, a typewriter and most importantly the gigantic blow-up of the Nicolas Poussin's 1629 painting "Midas and Bacchus" that rarely goes out of the camera's eye. The fourth trivial but allegorical bit comes early in the film--the lead character excusing herself from her commitment to provide funds to Hollywood filmmaker Joseph Mankiewicz (alluding to the role of money that plays a pivotal role in the entire film and the gold of the Midas touch that brought Midas down to earth, begging that the gift of Bacchus be taken away). Thank you, Messrs. Fassbinder, Ballhaus, Raab; and Ms Carstensen, Hermann, and Schygulla for such well thought-out film completed in merely 10 days of shooting.
The film is based on an original script written by Fassbinder on a 12-hour flight from Berlin to Los Angeles. Other co-scriptwriters were roped in to improve it. The film is one of the memorable works of Fassbinder because of several factors. The main reason is the exquisite casting Ms Carstensen in the title role and all the other ladies. The second reason is the cinematography of Michael Ballhaus (with the guidance of Fassbinder) with sequences of ladies just showing their feet in shoes, dancing on a furry carpet--leaving the viewer to imagine what was happening 5 feet above. The camera does capture and focus on Marlene (Irm Hermann) at some crucial moments. The perspective of the actions of the camera eye with and without the bed from the carpet-level, when used, are simply stunning. The third reason is the production design of Kurt Raab, with entire action captured in a small space with one large bed, mannequins and dolls, a typewriter and most importantly the gigantic blow-up of the Nicolas Poussin's 1629 painting "Midas and Bacchus" that rarely goes out of the camera's eye. The fourth trivial but allegorical bit comes early in the film--the lead character excusing herself from her commitment to provide funds to Hollywood filmmaker Joseph Mankiewicz (alluding to the role of money that plays a pivotal role in the entire film and the gold of the Midas touch that brought Midas down to earth, begging that the gift of Bacchus be taken away). Thank you, Messrs. Fassbinder, Ballhaus, Raab; and Ms Carstensen, Hermann, and Schygulla for such well thought-out film completed in merely 10 days of shooting.