Angst vor der Angst (1975) (TV)

Note des utilisateurs:

7.9/10   

Réalisateur:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Asta Scheib (novel) and
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (writer)

Release Date:

8 juillet 1975 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drame

Plot:

Margot, who lives in a comfortable middle class apartment, fears that she is losing her mind after having had her second child...

Plot Keywords:

Fear | Middle Class | Sister In Law | Mother In Law | Hostility

Avis des utilisateurs:

"The Yellow Wallpaper" revisited

Ensemble

Margit Carstensen	...	Margot
Ulrich Faulhaber	...	Kurt, ihr Mann
Brigitte Mira	...	Mutter
Irm Hermann	...	Lore
Armin Meier	...	Karli
Adrian Hoven	...	Dr. Merck
Kurt Raab	...	Herr Bauer
Ingrid Caven	...	Edda
Lilo Pempeit	...	Mrs. Schall
Helga Maerthesheimer	...	Dr. von Unruh (as Helga Märthesheimer)
Herbert Steinmetz	...	Dr. Auer
Hark Bohm	...	Dr. Rozenbaum
Constanze Haas	...	Bibi, Margots Tochter

Autre(s) titre(s):

Fear of Fear (USA)
Peur de la peur (France) [fr]

Durée:

West Germany:88 min (TV)

Pays:

West Germany

Langue:

Allemand

Couleur:

Couleur

Son:

Mono

Classification:

Singapore:PG

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Bonn, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company:

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Guillemet:

Margot: Tell me I'm being hysterical, please!

Soundtrack:

Lover, Lover, Lover

"The Yellow Wallpaper" revisited

Gilman's classic short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" seems to be the model for this Fassbinder TV movie (not American TV--that's obvious). As in the original story, post-partum depression is only the immediate cause of the heroine's depressed, anxious and eventual insane state. In the story, the narrator's crisis is certainly located in patriarchy. I do not know Fassbinder or his work well enough to know whether Margo (Margit Carstensen) is suffering from straight up alienation or the patriarchal blues but most of the indicators point to the latter. There is far more focus on marriage here and male disinterest in or mis-readings of Margo's suffering than on social dislocation per se. Both the husband and the sincere, sympathetic brother-in-law fail, like the physician husband in the story, to grasp, to one degree or another, the nature of Margo's pain, which lead in both pieces, to deeper isolation and madness.

Perhaps Margit Carstensen's performance determines how one likes or dislikes this film. I thought it was as convincing as her ill looks, her ill eyes, her ill expressions, but I'm sure some viewers will disagree. For them, perhaps the film's restraint, honesty, and intelligence can be the difference maker.