About

The beginning of his filmmaking in 1969 and 1970 was like a cinematic supernova, unlike anything that had been seen before. – Lothar Schirmer

When his epochal first feature was mercilessly booed at the Berlin Film Festival, Fassbinder merely clasped his hands over his head and shook them in triumph. Much like Jean-Luc Godard had done nearly a decade earlier with his debut Breathless, Fassbinder catapulted himself into a new wave of filmmaking with a deconstruction of the American gangster film. As filmmaker and close Fassbinder friend Christian Braad Thomsen put it, "Fassbinder began where Godard had stopped, and showed his first attempts to construct a new film language on the smoking ruins which Godard left behind." Just 23 years old at the time of filming, Fassbinder assumed the lead role of Franz, a small-time pimp who becomes embroiled in a love triangle with his mistress, a prostitute named Joanna (Hanna Schygulla), and handsome crook Bruno (Ulli Lommel). When Franz refuses to join the local mob, they recruit Bruno to convince him, setting off an escalating chain of crime as tensions mount and alliances are challenged.

R18+ | Brief images of actual sexual activity

R18+