Veronika Voss | |
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Directed by | Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
Written by |
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Produced by | Thomas Schühly |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Xaver Schwarzenberger |
Music by | Peer Raben |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Filmverlag der Autoren |
Release date |
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Running time | 104 minutes |
Country | West Germany |
Language | German |
Veronika Voss (German : Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss, lit. "The Longing of Veronika Voss") is a 1982 West German black-and-white drama film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and starring Rosel Zech, Hilmar Thate, and Cornelia Froboess. Loosely based on the career of actress Sybille Schmitz, the film follows the titular Veronika Voss, a morphine-addicted film star in 1955 Munich who begins an affair with a sports journalist; soon after, he discovers that Veronika is under the control of a corrupt neurologist scheming to bleed her of her wealth.
Veronika Voss is the second film of his BRD Trilogy, but was chronologically made last, after The Marriage of Maria Braun and Lola . It is also the penultimate film of his career (preceding Querelle ) and the last film released during Fassbinder's lifetime.
In 1955 Munich, Veronika Voss is a neurotic, faded UFA film star who is said to have slept with Joseph Goebbels but is now struggling to get roles. While riding the U-Bahn, she meets sports reporter Robert Krohn and is intrigued that he does not know who she is. The two have lunch together, and Veronika is recognized in a jewelry shop by two older women who ask for her autograph, and comment on the death of Veronika's husband during World War II.
Veronika and Robert begin a love affair, even though Robert already lives with his girlfriend Henriette, who nevertheless realizes that Veronika has an irresistible allure. When Veronika arrives at their apartment asking to spend the night with Robert at her large house outside of the city, Henriette passively allows Robert to go with her. During their rendezvous, Veronika awakens in a manic and confused state, which startles Robert.
Veronika's behavior becomes erratic and increasingly desperate, and her faltering career sends her into a downward spiral, as she finds herself being passed over for roles which are given to younger actresses. Robert decides to write a story about aging movie stars that were once popular and now go unnoticed, using Veronika as a case study. As Robert delves into her life he discovers that she is essentially a captive to a corrupt neurologist named Dr. Marianne Katz. Dr. Katz keeps Veronika addicted to morphine and uses her power to give or deny drugs as a means to bleed the actress of her wealth.
To verify his suspicions, Robert has Henriette approach Dr. Katz and pretend to be a rich woman in need of psychiatric care. Dr. Katz writes Henriette a prescription for an opiate but immediately afterwards sees her making a call from a phone booth across the street. Dr. Katz has Henriette killed and with Veronika's help covers up the crime when Robert arrives with the police.
The film ends tragically as Dr. Katz and her cohorts have Veronika sign over all that she owns and leave her with a fatal dose of pills. After Veronika's death, Robert observes the villains celebrating their victory and is unable to do a thing.
The film is loosely based on the career of actress Sybille Schmitz and is influenced by Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard .
Fassbinder has a cameo role in the beginning of the film sitting behind Voss in a movie theatre and watching her old movie. Lilo Pempeit (also Liselotte Eder), who plays the manager of a jewelry store, was Fassbinder's mother. Günther Kaufmann, one of Fassbinder's former lovers, plays in all three films of the cycle. In this one he is an enigmatic African-American G.I. Juliane Lorenz, who's seen in the brief role of a secretary, was a close associate of Fassbinder and the editor of this film. Lorenz had spotted an article in Die Zeit about Schmitz's legal troubles and brought it to Fassbinder's attention. [1] She became the chief executive of Fassbinder's estate, the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation.
Several American country music songs appear on the soundtrack throughout the film, including Sanford Clark's version of Lee Hazlewood's "Run Boy Run"; Johnny Horton's "The Battle of New Orleans"; Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons"; and Tommy Collins's "High on a Hilltop" performed by The Berlin Ramblers. Zech as Voss also performs a version of Dean Martin's "Memories Are Made of This" in the manner of Marlene Dietrich.
The film was entered into the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Bear. [2]
Roger Ebert added the film to his Great Movies collection. [3]
In 2012, filmmaker Ashim Ahluwalia included the film in his personal top ten (for The Sight & Sound Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time poll), writing: "Fassbinder's opiated take on Sunset Boulevard , Veronika Voss makes Billy Wilder's movie look like a children's special. Voss's drug overdose/suicide eerily foreshadows Fassbinder's own later that same year infusing deep tragedy and new meaning to the term 'a film about film'". [4]
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker, dramatist and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. Versatile and prolific, his over 40 films span a variety of genres, most frequently blending elements of Hollywood melodrama with social criticism and avant-garde techniques. His films, according to him, explored "the exploitability of feelings". His work was deeply rooted in post-war German culture: the aftermath of Nazism, the German economic miracle, and the terror of the Red Army Faction. He worked with a company of actors and technicians who frequently appeared in his projects.
Lola is a 1981 West German drama film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the third in his BRD Trilogy, preceded by The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978) and Veronika Voss (1982). It is a loose adaptation of Heinrich Mann's Professor Unrat (1905), which had previously been adapted for Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel (1930).
Cornelia Froboess is a German actress and a teen idol of the 1950s and early 1960s. During that time, Froboess appeared in many West German and Austrian musical films, especially after the rock and roll wave had hit Germany. In those comedy films, she would often portray the typical Berliner Göre who craves independence from her strict parents.
Sybille Maria Christina Schmitz was a German actress.
The Marriage of Maria Braun is a 1978 West German drama film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The film stars Hanna Schygulla as Maria, whose marriage to the soldier Hermann remains unfulfilled due to World War II and his post-war imprisonment. Maria adapts to the realities of post-war Germany and becomes the wealthy mistress of an industrialist, all that while staying true to her love for Hermann.
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is a 1974 West German drama film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, starring Brigitte Mira and El Hedi ben Salem. The film won the International Federation of Film Critics award for best in-competition movie and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival. It is considered to be one of Fassbinder's most powerful works and is hailed by many as a masterpiece.
Barbara Sukowa is a German actress of screen and stage and singer. She has received three German Film Awards for Best Actress, three Bavarian Film Awards, Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, Venice Film Festival Award, as well as nominations for European Film Awards, César Awards and Grammy Awards.
The BRD Trilogy consists of three films directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder: The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), Lola (1981) and Veronika Voss (1982). The films are connected in a thematic rather than in a narrative sense. All three deal with different characters and plotlines, but each one focuses on the story of a specific woman in West Germany after World War II. The three letter acronym "BRD" stands for Bundesrepublik Deutschland, the official name of West Germany and of the united contemporary Germany.
El Hedi ben Salem was a Moroccan actor, best known for his work with film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Ingrid Caven is a German film actress and singer. She is best known for her roles in several films directed by her husband, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, including Love Is Colder Than Death (1969), Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (1970), and The American Soldier (1970). She continued to appear in Fassbinder's films after their 1972 divorce until his death in 1982. She has also appeared in Silent Night (1995), 35 Shots of Rum (2009) and Suspiria (2018).
Despair is a 1978 film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and starring Dirk Bogarde, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov. It was Fassbinder's first English-language film and was entered into the 1978 Cannes Film Festival.
Effi Briest is a 1974 West German black-and-white historical drama film directed, written and narrated by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and produced by Juliane Lorenz. Fassbinder adapted the screenplay from German author Theodor Fontane's 1894 novel of the same name about a young 19th century woman whose affair with a charismatic womanizer has long-term effects on her marriage to an older man. The film uses Fontane's words in dialogue, narration and text of letters.
Günther Kaufmann was a German film actor best known for his association with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Fassbinder directed Kaufmann in a total of 14 films, casting him in leading and minor roles. Kaufmann was also romantically involved with the director for a time.
Juliane Lorenz is a German film editor best known for her work with and relationship to director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Lorenz is the head of the Fassbinder Foundation, an organization that seeks to preserve and promote the filmmaker's legacy. She has authored or edited several books on the director's life and work, and has directed a documentary on the same subject.
Rosalie Helga Lina Zech, known as Rosel Zech, was a German theater and film actress, she is most well known for her works associated with the "Autorenkino" movement, which began in the 1970s.
Harry Baer is a German actor, producer and author, best known for his work with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. He has also been credited as Harry Bär.
Gods of the Plague is a 1970 West German black-and-white drama film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Fährmann Maria is a 1936 German horror film directed by Frank Wisbar and starring Sybille Schmitz.
Fear of Fear is a 1975 West German drama film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder starring Margit Carstensen. Fear of Fear is the fifth film by R. W. Fassbinder for the WDR in cooperation with editor Peter Märthesheimer.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a German filmmaker.