Berlin Alexanderplatz

We have here a man - Biberkopf - haunted by his past and confronted from all sides by people trying to break him. He has made an oath, he will maintain this oath, he cannot maintain this oath; zum Rhein, zum Rhein, zum deutschen Rhein [whatever happens, this cannot end well]. In the league of literary adaptations there have been few that have blended creativity & devotion to its source so well; the rich symbolism, metropolitan tones, and rhythm of Döblin are brilliantly composed by Fassbinder

There is something very very German in this movie, like all other movies of Fassbinder, Biberkopf is the perfect protype of the lower-middle class German citizen who sways between prosperity and misery, virtue and vice, vividness and boredom. In that sense the plot shares the general theme of the antagonism of the good and evil in the German tragic drama and Fassbinder tries to emphasize the everyday dullness of the German life despite the everchanging modernist background.

Well worth seeing. Yes, all 15 1/2 hours of it. Some parts move faster than others, but it's never dull. Imparts unto you serious bragging rights just for having seen it, since it's kind of like the Mount Everest of art films. It's also NOT what you might expect

Schnürsenkel!

The look is quite unusual: a mix of soft-focus shots where everything seems to glow & sparkle, some coarse, super-grainy telephoto-looking shots, and some flat, neutral-coloured, painting-looking shots. It really creates a dreamlike effect. The sheer length of the work is put to good use, making it one of the few films I can think of with the scope of a good novel, but the narrative keeps a pretty clear focus and the pacing isn't particularly slow -- it's just really long.

Well, this more or less lives up to its reputation as the Ultimate Feel-Bad Experience, i'll give it that much. Yet despite the not undeserved acclaim, i can't really bring myself to consider it one of my favorites of Fassbinder's, less because of any single substantial flaw than because 16 hours is just a hell of a lot of Fassbinder to take, and is almost inevitably a bit uneven despite the talent involved, and i'd be lying if it didn't seriously drag at times (on top of being a huge drag).

Fassbinder's mammoth, dreamlike portrait of a derelict man-baby and the whores, criminals, and drunks he associates with. Franz's inability to keep things straight and narrow seems to be both a personal failure and symptomatic of a greater systemic problem, in which the German people have been rendered broken and infantile, their eyes barely half open; easy targets for abuse and manipulation. It's no surprise, then, to see why the average German might have embraced his/her National Socialism...

Who needs Dekalog when there's Berlin Alexanderplatz?

Really fascinating and accessible story that feels like reading a wonderful novel. With the runtime Fassbinder has time to explore a multitude of themes, from individual ones like love and liberty, to social ones like poverty and politics. There are times when it's a bit of a drag but most of the time the human and social drama keeps you hooked. Then there's the epilogue which has a totally different style but works pretty well in its own way.

a bit of a slog at times but worth it for the epilogue

Bottom line is this... I pretty much enjoyed watching it, it was generally very well-done and interesting (especially in what it says about Germany), and Lamprecht was terrific. But I didn't think it was unassailably brilliant, and I wouldn't watch it again.

German miniseries following the life of Franz Biberkopf during the period between World Wars. Franz, easily lead by others and given temptation, is a political analogy for 1930s Germany. Even at 15 1/2 hours it's worth the time if you can find a copy to watch.

When it comes to cinematic or televisual genealogies of the rise of Hitler, I'll take Syberberg over Fassbinder. While there are some complexities on display here, and a few effective moments, this is mostly so poorly put together that it is by turns tedious and exasperating. The acclaim for this filmmaker continues to bewilder this viewer. Even contains one scene of synchronised chair spinarounds à la WORLD ON A WIRE. Keep an eye out for a brief and wasted use of Udo Kier. Maybe it's me...

An effective summary of this masterpiece would be nearly impossible to do - it is intensive. We witness the dynamics of sadomasochistic relationships and the bleak way of life taken on in Berlin in the Weimar era. There are countless parallels you can pull from this intricately woven tale, and it demands analyzation. This is not something to be taken lightly. Beautifully shot, incredible mise en scene and every actor involved delivers a deeply engrossing performance. An entire world is here.

absolute masterpiece

The story of a chubby, violent ex-con who is inexplicably irresistible to women. It's too good and too well done to give it a lower rating, but at times I felt it dragged and at times it left me cold. Both Lambrecht and Gottfried John are brilliant, as is the rest of the cast. Franz is a character with amazing depth. The epilogue, while an impressive and ambitious piece of filmmaking, struck me as mostly nonsense. A very worthwhile experience with much to be said for it despite the length.

Some sequences and episodes I found profound, yet so much of it drags and made me wonder why this didn't remain a stage play. The epilogue justifies it, becoming an at once somber and triumphant work of fever dream cinema. Schygulla is particularly great as Eva. Reinhold, that little swine.

Viewed from February 26 to March 6. A total masterpiece, and the epilogue is one of the greatest pieces of filmmaking ever, a daring leap into Franz Biberkopf's dream that brings its portrait of a German society into the present day, and doubles as a haunting affirmation of the novel's deeply felt personal significance for Fassbinder.

A minissérie começava há ser exibida na televisão alemã há 40 anos. Essa é uma jornada bem difícil desde o início, como fazer você se engajar numa estória protagonizada por um feminicida vendedor de jornal nazista? Felizmente Fassbinder maneja isso muito bem e acabamos sentido até ternura pelo desgraçado protagonista. Box Versátil.

Criticker bu diziye/filme 93 puan vereceğimi tahmin etmiş. Üyeliğimin başından beri en absürd/kötü tahmin bu oldu, belki de ben yanlış bir zamanda izledim. Sıkıcı, boğucu, gereksiz uzun...

The bloated pinnacle of New German Cinema, and among Fassbinder's last and decidedly his best work. I've discussed before that there's a tenuous link between Fassbinder's prolific work and the quality of work and this is an excellent example. It took me five years and three restarts to finish this mini-series. The episodes vary from profound to profoundly dull, but by the end of it, should you stick to it, you may feel as emotionally downtrodden as Biberkopf himself, for that, this is effective.

Alfred Döblin as moving pictures: Magical!

O son bölüm, benim sinema yolculugum adina unutulmaz bir deneyimdi. (13 part'in ardindan geldigi zaman anlamlaniyor tabii.) Renklerin ve isigin müthis kullanimiyla yaratilan o puslu, kasvetli dünyanin içine girmemek mümkün degil. Gottfried John ve Barbara Sukowa'nin oyunculuklari muhtesem! Ayrica "dis ses"in en çok yakistigi filmlerden.

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"For its first 13 episodes, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's adaptation of Alfred Döblin's 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz is most decidedly a masterpiece." - Keith Uhlich

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