Kind of a transitional episode, in which Franz gives up peddling propaganda for selling shoelaces and eventually realizes that going straight is not in the cards. The tone of this chapter is closer to camp, it seems to me, than the first two were: Fassbinder loves playing up his characters’ Germanness, as when Biberkopf swills a stein of beer, or a flophouse landlady reminisces about “the old days”; and Peer Raben’s wistful harmonica theme is getting steadily louder in the mix, becoming more and more cloying and intrusive. At the same time, the texture of the frames is getting denser, the primary images often obscured by flowers or reflected in omnipresent mirrors. This suggests that Franz’s burgerlich existence is becoming oppressive and untenable, in a reversal of the general trajectory of Chapter One. Whether this is leading up to a rising action of some kind, or still more psychological yoyoing, remains to be seen.
by Evan Kindley | Source: New Yorker DVD
08 Apr 2008 11:11 PM | Submit Comment
