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Fear Eats the Soul (Angst Essen Seele Auf)

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In Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Fear Eats the Soul (Angst Essen Seele Auf, 1974), a working-class widow Emma marries Ali, a younger Moroccan migrant worker, against the backdrop of 1970s Munich. This radical melodrama reveals the harsh realities of racism and societal hypocrisy in post-war Germany, while exploring love's hopes and limits through beautifully crafted performances and direction.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Ideal for readers interested in film studies, post-war German culture, and those who appreciate incisive social critique through art and cinema.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Fear Eats the Soul (Angst Essen Seele Auf, 1974), Emma (Brigitte Mira), a working-class widow and former member of the Nazi party, marries Ali (El Hedi ben Salem), a much younger Moroccan migrant worker. Set in Munich during the 1970s, the film melds the conventions of melodrama with a radical sensibility to present a portrait of racism and everyday hypocrisy in post-war Germany.

It is a film about the way conventional society detests anything and anybody unfamiliar - but also a film about the hopes and limits of love. Intricately directed, beautifully performed, and designed to show Munich life in all its shabby kitschiness, Fear Eats the Soul may be Fassbinder’s finest film.

Laura Cottingham celebrates Fassbinder’s achievement, placing Fear Eats the Soul in relation to his extraordinarily prolific career in theatre, film and television. Her analysis pulls back the thin curtain that separated his work from his tumultuous life. She also explores the director’s debt to the lush Hollywood melodramas made by fellow German Douglas Sirk, especially All That Heaven Allows (1955). In a detailed scene-by-scene analysis, Cottingham shows how Fassbinder managed to combine beauty and tenderness with fierce political critique.

Series: BFI Film Classics

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781839021794

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 November 2020

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: BFI Publishing

Edition: 2nd edition

Illustration: 30 colour and 20 bw illus

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 6.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 188.0mm

Weight: 160g

Pages: 100

About the Author

Laura Cottingham is an American art critic, curator and visual artist, based in New York City, USA.

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