Veronika Voss
Chazen Museum of Art 750 University Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53706
press release: West Germany | 1982 | 35mm | 104 min. | German with English subtitles
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Rosel Zech, Hilmar Thate, Cornelia Froboess
Shot in ghostly black and white, this dark homage to Sunset Blvd. follows a drug-addicted Nazi-era star attempting a comeback in the mid-1950s. Fassbinder’s penultimate film is an eerie, ironic account of self-delusion and exploitation, one that also stands as a sobering prophecy of the director’s demise shortly after its release.
Our Sunday afternoon series at the Chazen Museum of Art this fall will provide an opportunity to view 15 features by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a founder of New German Cinema and one of the most controversial filmmakers of his generation. Fassbinder’s prolific oeuvre includes examples of virtually every genre, and while he drew inspiration from the melodramas of Douglas Sirk and the French Nouvelle Vague, Fassbinder’s own movies have influenced a whole generation of filmmakers including Todd Haynes, Quentin Tarantino and Todd Solondz. All screened on 35mm prints, the selections in this series conclude with Fassbinder’s trilogy of post-War German life (The Marriage of Maria Braun, Lola and Veronika Voss). The series will provide ample evidence of Fassbinder’s genius, reminding us of the miracle of his short career as well as the tragedy of his early demise, in 1982, at the age of 37.
All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.