Beware of a Holy Whore

Rating:
Summary: BRILLIANT EARLY FASSBINDER
Review: An early masterpiece from the German New Wave,a hilarious and human portrait of the making of a film on the set of a monstrous director.More than self parody, Fassbinder created a vivid melange that is alive with pleasure.His characters are classic.This thrilling film should not be missed.

Rating:
Summary: One of Fassbinder's best
Review: Don't let the tongue-in-cheek title, which refers to cinema, deter you! Beware of a Holy Whore (1971) looks even better - and more complex - than when I first saw it theatrically several years ago; and Wellspring's DVD transfer is gorgeous (you can also choose either the original mono or new Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack). Fassbinder himself ranked this his best film on the list he made, shortly before his death, of "The Top 10 of My Own Films." Not only is this knowing satire - part screwball comedy, part existential pseudo-documentary - one of his two out-and-out comedies (1976's Satan's Brew is the other), it is also a probing, wickedly funny, yet celebratory film about filmmaking. Although some will heartily disagree, for me it ranks with such classics of this rarefied subgenre as Godard's Contempt and Fellini's 8-1/2 (both 1963), and seems more illuminating, and even entertaining, than Truffaut's wonderful Day for Night (1973).

But there is much more of interest than its behind-the-scenes peek at dysfunctional moviemaking. There are its autobiographical layers (Fassbinder not only appears in a crucial supporting role as the harried production manager Sascha, he parodies himself wickedly through the central character of the tyrannical director, Jeff); a brilliant use of rhythm, both within scenes and in the overall flow of the film (Fassbinder was also the co-editor); some of the most beautiful, subtle and complex visual design - and camera movement - of any of his films up to that point (the great Michael Ballhaus was the cinematographer; he now shoots Scorsese's films); an ecelctic, brilliantly deployed soundtrack ranging from Peer Raben's haunting original score to songs from Leonard Cohen, Ray Charles, and Elvis Presley to a haunting Donizetti aria; a superb ensemble cast (it follows about a dozen major characters - although it focuses on Jeff - and looks ahead to, say, Altman's Nashville); not to mention psychological insight, and some surprising yet on-target character revelations.

Fassbinder delves into extremely dark and tangled emotions in this comedy; and although there are many laughs, they often stem from violence. When a character asks Jeff what type of movie he is directing, he replies, "It's a film about brutality. What else would one make a film about?" Fassbinder was an enormously complex artist, and man, who understood from personal experience the cruel power plays, and blindness, of people in love. He admitted that he was capable of oppressing the people close to him (often his crews and cast were also his friends and lovers), yet he showed enormous compassion - in his life and work - for both victims and victimisers; and he understood that the same person could play both roles. And although this pivotal film - which looks back to his earlier, more abstract works and ahead to his unique melodramas - often has a languid pace, Fassbinder never stops digging beneath the surface, exploring the sources of human need: love, desire for power, longing, dependency, repressed wishes, unfulfilled dreams, and all manner of frustrations. With emotional meltdown possible at any moment, it is no wonder that the title begins with "beware," immediately telling us that that this is a cautionary tale. The title's other two words suggest the struggle, in each of us, between the spiritual and the raw.

Filmmaking proves a fascinating combination of those two distinct yet intertwined qualities, especially as embodied by Jeff. On the one hand, he makes life a living hell for his producer Manfred (Karl Scheydt) - who's in love with him, his production manager Sascha (Fassbinder), his fling Babs (Maragrethe von Trotta) - who happens to be Sascha's girlfriend, his ballistic ex named Irm (Magdalena Montezuma) who has convinced herself that she would "bear his children," and especially his on-again/off-again boyfriend Ricky (Marquard Bohm). Not to mention everybody else. But we also see Jeff's redemptive love for filmmaking, such as the spellbinding scene in which he tells his cinematographer exactly what he wants in a complicated shot and why. There is real fire in Jeff, and a natural poetry in his words, as writer/director Fassbinder turns cinema into language, even as the camera movement he uses counterpoints Jeff's vivid description of what he plans to film. But film is not all "holy," and throughout the camera often suggests voyeurism, both of cinema and of us, the audience. It often seems to be peeking around corners or pillars, as if it were eavesdropping.

Although film production is not part of most people's lives, Fassbinder manages to make it a probing metaphor for universal human experience, in one of his most hilarious, disturbing yet deeply moving pictures.

Rating:
Summary: Unfocused Fassbinder
Review: In the early seventies, director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was making an incredible four or five movies a year. But not even the Wizard of Babylon was capable of making four or five GOOD movies per year, and although Fassbinder apparently considered "Beware of a Holy Whore" to be one of his important films it has not aged well. Obviously a diehard Fassbinder fan will want to see or own this movie. Wellspring and the Fassbinder Foundation have done a great job in making these films available on DVD and the transfers are excellent - although the original audio could use some work in places. For me, however, the film is important for two reasons. Firstly, because Eddie Constantine is in the cast - although the iconic actor seems to be wondering what he got himself into. Second is the fascination of watching Fassbinder himself in a self-parodying role that is fun, albeit bitter-sweet. That said, in subtitles, it's hard to get the humor that is intended, and I strongly disagree with those that claim this film is on the same level as more mature introspections on the moviemaking process - like Truffaut's "Nuite Americaine". If you're new to Fassbinder, viewing early classics such as "Ali: Fear Eats The Soul", "The Merchant of Four Seasons" or "Fox and his Friends" may give you a better idea of how striking and important a filmmaker he was.

Rating:
Summary: Perverse and Hilarious Genius!
Review: One of Fassbinder's best -- visually ravishing while at the same time invigoratingly threadbare, brutally funny and self-deprecating, squalid and sexy and filled with cutting-edge glamour still, more than 25 years after its release -- you cannot miss this one! Watch for the breathtaking set piece on the hotel balcony with Hanna Schygulla's strangely affecting Marilyn Monroe dance, an outrageous drag-queen hanger-on getting his hair done, "Let's Go Get Stoned" playing in the background, and the funniest fistfight you'll ever see in a German movie....it'll take your breath away. Sheer genius.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Early Fassbinder
Review: This (relatively) early Fassbinder effort deserves to be seen. It has several flashes of brilliance but remains of interest mainly in light of what was to come. The film has a certain Morrissey/Warhol deadpan charm--you could almost envision Viva! or Joe D'Allesandro showing up any minute. Visually it can be quite striking. The cast varies in acting ability and star quality. There's a hint or two of Hanna Schygulla's later greatness. Fassbinder appears in a significant role (not merely the usual cameo) and is affecting. Ultimately one of those meta-films about making a film that young directors are partial to. Whether it provides the viewer with much insight is another question. Just how much do you care to know about this demimonde? Something of a curio thirty years after its release.

One has to wonder though why this film is available when "Maria Braun" is out of print. Of course the entire Fassbinder oeuvre should be on the market, but "Maria" remains one of his masterpieces, and it's scandalous that it's not currently available.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Early Fassbinder
Review: This (relatively) early Fassbinder effort deserves to be seen. It has several flashes of brilliance but remains of interest mainly in light of what was to come. The film has a certain Morrissey/Warhol deadpan charm--you could almost envision Viva! or Joe D'Allesandro showing up any minute. Visually it can be quite striking. The cast varies in acting ability and star quality. There's a hint or two of Hanna Schygulla's later greatness. Fassbinder appears in a significant role (not merely the usual cameo) and is affecting. Ultimately one of those meta-films about making a film that young directors are partial to. Whether it provides the viewer with much insight is another question. Just how much do you care to know about this demimonde? Something of a curio thirty years after its release.

One has to wonder though why this film is available when "Maria Braun" is out of print. Of course the entire Fassbinder oeuvre should be on the market, but "Maria" remains one of his masterpieces, and it's scandalous that it's not currently available.

Rating:
Summary: tedious
Review: This film opens with what appears to be a glam rocker in his early stages in front of nothing but the sky, as he utters the first word of this film; 'then'. This multilingual and unfocused Fassbinder film examines a film crew in disarray. Devoid of material, an entire cast and crew wait in a Spanish hotel to commence production under a persistently arrogant director.

While generally entertaining, the biggest downfall of this film is the look; it looks as if it was shot on video for a menial television series. Its moderately acceptable, but the remarkably poor technicalities of this film cannot save it from cinematic failure. The atrocious look and lack of sync could be dismissed if the story was executed more efficiently, but the story actually remains unfocused and droll.

Fassbinder can do much better than a story about a film crew who would voluntarily imprison themselves, submitting to enslavement merely as a product of a lack of material. 1970s Spain is apparently a time before television, athletics, oudoors, novels, or any human activities outside of arguing, drinking, sex, and jukeboxes. Perhaps this is a satirical comment on their character, but it appears to be very lazy writing, save some theorizing about the meaning of murder and topical examinations of humanity. But, in the end, it's a moderately acceptable exhibition of lazy filmmaking from a director who can do so much better.