RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER

Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBB. 

Original title:  Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss

West Germany, 1982.  Laura Film, Tango Film, Rialto Film, Trio Film, Maran Film, Süddeutscher Rundfunk.  Screenplay by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pea Fröhlich, Peter Märthesheimer.  Cinematography by Xaver Schwarzenberger.  Produced by Thomas Schuhly, Bertram Vetter.  Music by Peer Raben.  Production Design by Rolf Zehetbauer.  Costume Design by Barbara Baum.  Film Editing by Juliane Lorenz.  Toronto International Film Festival 1982.  

The tribulations of a depressed movie star are the subject of this flashy German drama, the second to last film that Rainer Werner Fassbinder made before his untimely death at the age of 37 by drug overdose.  Rosel Zech is terrific in the lead role, an aging actress who hasn’t made a movie in years and is on the decline, kept alive by her morphine addiction and the supposedly kind doctor who supplies it to her. When she meets a sports reporter who recognizes her, she relates her story to him, one that includes her possible affair with Goebbels and her current intentions to make a comeback. This artsy, Sunset Boulevard-esque drama is shot in a gorgeously nostalgic black and white style that recalls the glory days of 30s expressionist filmmaking.