No stakes corny WWII Jew-Nazi romance thriller popcorn anomaly. Throw-away equivalent of fast food. But what fun. Lili Marleen (1981, Fassbinder) deals with the wealthy class. Something unusual for Fassbinder. Yet it’s also got lavish production values tons of extras pyro and stunts combat footage. Love late Fassbinder. Love fast food.
This movie’s not bad. There’s just nothing to care about. WILLIE (Schygulla) writes this hit song. She sleeps around a bit and one of her hookups Grüppenfuhrer Henkel sets her up in a recording studio. And it’s at this precise moment the radio announces a blitzkrieg occurs meaning the Reichstag is officially at war while Henkel exclaims to all his National Socialist bros in the studio hey guys we got a record to finish! Delightful mashup territory. Color me tickled. Plot moving pretty quickly her song is a radio hit as the Wehrmacht captures Belgrade. Score.
This movie’s like the rise of a pop singer to the top of the charts paralleled with the Nazis rising along with her. Yes I know I shouldn’t be laughing at this. But like okay her love interest is played by Giancarlo Giannini ROBERT a Jewish crusader who’s in a group that smuggles Jewish passports and does everything they can to smuggle out and negotiate with Nazis for release of other Jews. Other than he and Willie hooking up in the first half and the perilous risk that comes with that (there’s a scene where he tells her “there are things happening in Germany right now more horrible than anything imaginable,” to which she replies “I don’t know about any of that I just sing a song,” at which point theyr’e both so turned on they have hot passionate sex) he goes his own way until the end out of nowhere mentioned prior he’s now a successful orchestra conductor.
Okay I am laughing at the tone and how I can’t imagine taking any of this seriously. But oh uh oh I can’t stop. She gets to meet the Führer because even though Goebbels hates her music apparently the Führer stans her. So she goes with her main hookup Henkel to have tea with Hitler and when they go in this ginormous set of doors open up and from within out pours white light. Get it? And when she first walks in to the suite Hitler’s bought her she asks “How did you know I like white?” Sorry ok I’ll stop with the making fun. Making light of it all.
The Nazi gala with hundreds of extras is gorgeous with the first glimpse of Xaver Schwarzenberger’s kandy kolored kaleidoscopic karnival kreations all pink hues baby blues and key lights aflame with orangefire and red contrast actors faces. Too cool. More to come.
The Fassbinder cameo is him smuggling Willie film out of the atrocities occurring at Auschwitz Treblinka and Majdanek. Top secret stuff. But superficial escapist entertainment not seen since the War. And for fans of the obscure major easter egg: at the end when Willie is being walked through the forest and her guide says something happened here a pimp killed his girl we know he’s talking about Franz Biberkopf from Berlin Alexanderplatz. And wait when the Gestapo throw Robert in that room and lock him in torturing him making him listen to “Lili Marleen” loud skipping on repeat that kind of anguish torment is pretty Fassbinder.
This movie’s like the rise of a pop singer to the top of the charts paralleled with the Nazis rising along with her. Yes I know I shouldn’t be laughing at this. But like okay her love interest is played by Giancarlo Giannini ROBERT a Jewish crusader who’s in a group that smuggles Jewish passports and does everything they can to smuggle out and negotiate with Nazis for release of other Jews. Other than he and Willie hooking up in the first half and the perilous risk that comes with that (there’s a scene where he tells her “there are things happening in Germany right now more horrible than anything imaginable,” to which she replies “I don’t know about any of that I just sing a song,” at which point theyr’e both so turned on they have hot passionate sex) he goes his own way until the end out of nowhere mentioned prior he’s now a successful orchestra conductor.
Okay I am laughing at the tone and how I can’t imagine taking any of this seriously. But oh uh oh I can’t stop. She gets to meet the Führer because even though Goebbels hates her music apparently the Führer stans her. So she goes with her main hookup Henkel to have tea with Hitler and when they go in this ginormous set of doors open up and from within out pours white light. Get it? And when she first walks in to the suite Hitler’s bought her she asks “How did you know I like white?” Sorry ok I’ll stop with the making fun. Making light of it all.
The Nazi gala with hundreds of extras is gorgeous with the first glimpse of Xaver Schwarzenberger’s kandy kolored kaleidoscopic karnival kreations all pink hues baby blues and key lights aflame with orangefire and red contrast actors faces. Too cool. More to come.
The Fassbinder cameo is him smuggling Willie film out of the atrocities occurring at Auschwitz Treblinka and Majdanek. Top secret stuff. But superficial escapist entertainment not seen since the War. And for fans of the obscure major easter egg: at the end when Willie is being walked through the forest and her guide says something happened here a pimp killed his girl we know he’s talking about Franz Biberkopf from Berlin Alexanderplatz. And wait when the Gestapo throw Robert in that room and lock him in torturing him making him listen to “Lili Marleen” loud skipping on repeat that kind of anguish torment is pretty Fassbinder.
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