Reviews (1)

"Will is all that's needed."
Fans of German director, Fassbinder, will not be disappointed in the film, "I Only Want You to Love Me." For some inexplicable reason, the film remains one of Fassbinder's lesser-known films.

Bricklayer, Peter (Vitus Zeplichal) is a rather hapless young man--the only son of a distracted father and icy cold mother. Constant criticism and a total lack of affection from his parents, produces incredible self-doubt and a vast need for approval in Peter. As a child, he develops a habit of gift giving to win affection or approval. Peter's touching attempts to gain affection are largely ignored or even violently punished. As a result, Peter grows up to be a disconnected, disturbed young man. When Peter marries Erika, the young couple moves to Munich to make their own way in the world. Peter is a good, hard worker, and he very quickly finds employment. Life is bleak, however, and Peter succumbs to a constant drive to provide Erika with items they cannot afford. Payments on furniture stretch their budget to the limit, but Peter gives in to his desire to give Erika things that will please her and win her approval. The couple rapidly descends into debt. Bailouts are converted into mad impulse purchases, and as the situation heads into inevitable disaster, Peter sinks into depression. Peter cannot communicate his distress, and those who are supposed to be closest to him are oblivious to it.

This German film with English subtitles is a fine example of Fassbinder at his best. The story is deceptively simple, and the dilemma of a young working class couple is examined with fine detail. Their economic plight is one that many people can identify with. "I Only Want You to Love Me" is based on a true story and the film was originally made for television. Fassbinder fans will find this film to be one of the director's more psychological films. Fassbinder uses the character of Peter to examine the unconscious motivation behind his workaholic drive to work and the emotional void in his life which dictates he constantly shower his unaffectionate family members with gifts.

Fassbinder fans will also note the director's obsession with death is evident in the scenes that place Peter's mother on the settee--covered with flowers. The scene evokes an image of a corpse in a coffin. If you enjoy Fassbinder films as much as I do, then seek out a copy of this film--it's a masterpiece--displacedhuman ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Compassionate study of a woman, and a scathing social satire
Like all of Fassbinder's best films, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975) is many things at once. It is simultaneously a deeply compassionate portrait of a working-class woman and a scathing satire of her exploitation by the media and political factions, as she tries to clear the name of her dead husband, branded "the factory murderer." It is emotionally rich but intellectually dense, filled with arguments and counter-arguments galore; psychologically astute yet highly stylized and visually lush. It is a comedy, a drama, and much more. It is also an excellent example of how Fassbinder uses image and sound, often in subtle ways, to develop - and play with - his themes. A unique feature is that he wrote and shot two strikingly different endings (both are included on the excellent DVD), one for Europe, and a more hopeful one for the U.S. They provide two very different ways in which the title character "goes to heaven."

The character of Mother Kusters is remarkable for several reasons. Although Fassbinder often has a tendency to allegorize his characters (albeit in fascinating ways), even as he does here, Emma Kusters (Brigitte Mira) is both a potent symbol of The Mother and, simultaneously, a flesh and blood woman. When so many of his characters, not to mention people in the real world, are destroyed by their rigidity, her willingness to explore new ideas - to incorporate an increasingly complex view of the social world, her family, and even herself - seems a genuine form of optimism.

The film's literary roots also connect with Fassbinder's aesthetic and political aims. Although he attributed its inspiration to an obscure story, the key cultural "mother" is Gorky's in his 1906 novel, Mother (an indomitable Russian peasant woman, after having her political consciousness raised through a family tragedy, joins the Russian revolution). It was also dramatized by Brecht, whose theories of how to engage the audience's mind as well as emotions were a crucial early influence on Fassbinder. But sure to raise the hackles of his Leftist predecessors, Fassbinder takes some hilarious jabs at Communists and anarchists, not to mention right-wing journalists. With so much humor, many people consider this an outright comedy.

But Fassbinder also raises many serious, and still-relevant, social issues - about the nature of mass media and politics - even as he returns to one of his perennial themes, exploitation. And although he satirizes most of the characters, except Mother Kusters, he never dehumanizes them. Take the photographer/reporter Niemeyer (Gottfried John). He is tall, lanky, almost vulture-like, yet he comes across as sincere and likeable, even as he wheedles the most intimate details out of Emma Kusters - and even beds her crudely self-promoting daughter Corinna (Ingrid Caven). It would be easy to reduce Niemeyer, for cheap laughs, to a one-dimensional stereotype. But Fassbinder gives him considerable emotional, even moral, depth. And he is defended by Mother Kusters herself: "It's his job to create sensations. Everybody has to make a living." Fassbinder is merciless, and witty, at condemning the institution; but he ekes out some sympathy for the employees.

Fassbinder uses visual design to make his themes still more complex and involving. He begins not with an expected establishing shot, to show us where we are, but by holding on a closeup of Mother Kusters' hands, as she screws a round brown part into a small white plastic box, one after another after another. Eventually he reveals that she is working not in a factory but at her kitchen table, as she laments, "I'm getting slower." The routine is efficient, even graceful, yet dehumanizing. Not only does this establish her socioeconomic status and long-suffering character, it indicates the same type of repetitive work which drove (the never-seen) Mr. Kusters to murder and suicide. Throughout the film, Fassbinder also uses color in fascinating ways, contrasting the unfulfilled lives of the Kusters with bright primaries - blues, yellows, and especially reds. This is simultaneously satirical, poignant, and even beautiful. He also makes achieves visual coherence and thematic resonance through the use of shape. In contrast to the often comic tone, the dominant visual motif is oppressive, of narrow openings (in doorways, halls, corridors) between stark walls, often shot from twisted angles and in shadow.

Although I don't want to give away either of the surprising endings, I believe both are effective. Each gives characters and themes closure, albeit in dramatically - or comically - different ways, even as they bring to mind Mother Kuster's bittersweet key line: "As my [husband] used to say, you have to see the good in all people." Fassbinder understands that simple, but difficult, maxim too, as he explores the emotional complexity of characters and their lives, in a film without any villains, but with one extraordinary woman at its heart.

Naiive Widow Out To Clear Murder/Suicide Husband's Name
Fassbinder's most political film, mixes all imaginable elements dominating the news in 1970s Germany. The story begins with a radio news bullitin about a factory worker going berzerk, killing a supervisor, then himself. The man's lower class family (busy with small assembly "homework") engages in evening small talk, casually mentioning the news flash in their conversation. Minutes later the bad news arrives at the door.

Immediately the vulnerable "Mother Kusters" is hounded by reporters from the boulevard press. Twisting her words, as well as those of children and a pregnant daughter in-law, along with taking countless bad-angle photographs, the press has their story. The name of easy-going, kind and obediant Father Kusters is ruined.

Several characters bring definite color to this unusual story. Mother Kusters' 30-something daughter, an aspiring lounge singer (a la Marlene Dietrich) shamelessly exploits her newly gained celebrity status by initiating press interviews about her father's tragedy, then moving in with the questionable reporter, who also arranged singing work through "connections".

Mother Kusters soon is "lulled in" by some upscale and persuasive communists, who appear sympathetic, but eventually seem to be exploiting the poor old woman for their own political gains. Finally Mother Kusters ends in a bizarre trap she unwittingly fell for: A group of anarchists, under the pretence of assuring that her husband's name will be cleared, use the woman in a hostage stand-off aimed at the release of political prisoners. - The final scene suddenly stops in a freeze frame, with a brief written description of the immediate action to follow. WOW!

Although not among Fassbinder's great classics, this is an impressive film. The statements made here were originally (in the mid-70s) met with criticism. The treatment of communism and anarchy (in a not necessarily negative way) were seen as contrary to common acceptance of the day. Years after the Cold War's end, the story of "the factory murderer" seems dated. Still, a well-worth-seeing film!****

Excuse me, can I exploit your personal tragedy?
A bitingly clever film from Fassbinder. It apparently offended a lot of Germans when it was initially released, but is quite interesting to watch now as a document of Germany in the '70s. No one is the "good guy" here - the newspapers, the Communists, and the anarchists all want to use Mrs. Kuster's tragic story to their own benefit. Even the laughably ignorant Mother Kusters fails to become a sympathetic character. The woman just doesn't have a clue.

As in all Fassbinder films, the regular actresses steal the show. Ingrid Caven is lovely as the aloof nightclub singer. Irm Hermann isn't quite as strong as she is in 'Bitter Tears of P.V.K.' or 'Merchant of Four Seasons,' but she makes an impression all the same. Margit Cartensen and Karl Heinz Bohm are very picturesque as the "armchair Communist" couple - all ideals but probably not willing to make any real sacrifices.

Probably Fassbinder's most political film, and a very important piece of his oeuvre. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Great satire on self-deception, anarchy & fascism's allure
Review: Great satire on self-deception, anarchy & fascism's allure

Although Fassbinder uses humor in all of his pictures, Satan's Brew (1976) is his only out-and-out, writhing-in-laughter comedy. Extraordinarily, this is also one of his most probing looks at those frailties, and follies, of human nature which give rise to cults of personality and even, he argues, fascism. He does not spare himself either, since he mercilessly satirizes himself through the self-absorbed, sexually insatiable - and hilarious - major character, pseudo-poet Walter Kranz (Kurt Raab). This is a kinky, wickedly funny, and many-layered farce.

In its flawless and highly musical pacing, it bears comparison with such screwball comedy masterpieces as Hawks's His Girl Friday (1940). Although Fassbinder may not have used a metronome, as Hawks did, you can almost imagine him conducting, instead of directing, his ensemble. There is music in the delivery of every line, in every gesture (most broad, some very subtle), in the blocking of actors as they cross and recross each other, not to mention in every movement of the camera, and in every perfectly-timed cut. To stretch the musical analogy a bit further, the film is almost a fugue, with Walter as the principal theme, and each of his women - ranging from a wealthy masochist to a high-class hooker with shady connections and a penchant for knitting to a groveling groupie to several more, including his longsuffering wife - as a separate but interwoven melody.

Perhaps Fassbinder needed this extraordinary degree of precision to counterbalance the chaos of the film's action and emotions. All of those qualities are embodied by the uniformly brilliant cast, including many of his regular actors. Margit Carstensen stands out as the frantically self-abasing groupie; but she is virtually unrecognizable with eyeglass lenses thick as the bottoms of Coke bottles. Could this be the lead of The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Martha, and Fear of Fear? Yes! But the star turn is multi-talented Kurt Raab, who worked with Fassbinder as designer, actor, co-writer, and more, on over 30 films. Raab is hysterical in the lead role of Walter; his every inflection and gesture pure comic brilliance.

The design of the film is a perfect foil for the action. It is both one of Fassbinder's most stylish pictures, with dozens of striking but subtle compositions, and most seamless, with all the elements working together in harmony. Peer Raben has written another inspired score (although the main title music here was initially heard under the climactic scene in Chinese Roulette). The music has a jaunty yet sinister quality which buoys the film, yet allows Fassbinder complete freedom in "conducting" the cast, camera movements, and editing to his own rhythms. All of these elements help create a sort of skewed parallel universe, where people's tastes in house paint colors and fashions, not to mention ultra-kinky romance, are off, and where sadomasochism, violence, and multiple forms of spewing are blithely accepted as the daily norm.

Satan's Brew? Although initially puzzling, the title is a key to the film, which is both diabolical - a self-indulgent hell on earth - and intoxicatingly funny. For an artist like Fassbinder, it should be noted that a "poet," Walter - with a free-range id - is the prime mover behind all the chaos. As Walter says at one point, "True genius lies in madness." Fassbinder, a genius at complexity and paradox, has created a world that is simultaneously wildly subversive (in its energy, colorfulness and unbridled freedom) yet deeply conservative (for who could live in such an insane society).

It is no accident that Fassbinder made Walter an avatar of the gay German romantic poet, Stefan George (1868-1933). As we know from some of the film's most hilarious scenes, he founded his own influential literary circle (but unlike Walter did not need to pay his disciples). George used symbolic imagery and precisely arranged "harmonious" words to produce aesthetic intoxication; one cannot help comparing that to Fassbinder's meticulous care in arranging the images, sounds, and rhythms in this film. Of course, George's affectations, obsession with power, and sexual hypocrisy undercut his utopian goals - a paradox which fascinated Fassbinder.

Walter, of course, never shared George's ideals; he was thrilled just being a magnet for people eager to worship him. Ultimately we are left not with persons but impersonators - from Walter to his fawning fans and beyond - whose emptiness (emotional, creative, even spiritual) demands subjugation and humiliation - an acting out of their own self-loathing, itself a product of their emotional wounds which they refuse to confront. From that debasement to fascism, Fassbinder implies, is only a small step. Here, The Master is the comically diminished Walter, and nascent totalitarianism is represented by only a small cell. But history shows where else those tendencies can lead.

Satan's Brew seems one of Fassbinder's most audacious creations, simultaneously a deliriously effervescent romp and a pitch-black satire on self-deception, anarchy, and the allure of fascism. From a certain - perhaps optimistically twisted - point of view, it might even inspire some people to imagine a better world than our own, although it would be the complete negation of the one here.

Sorry, it's bad
Don't get me wrong, I am a Fassbinder fan. I just find 'Satan's Brew' to be a depressing, over-indulgent mess. It may be a gloomy observation, but you can almost see this work as a sign that Fassbinder's life would eventually come to a tragic end; six years later, the director was dead.

Kurt Raab plays one of the most detestable characters ever in film. Volker Spengler is good as always, but he really is playing a sick puppy in this one. And I'm still shocked that that is Margit Cartensen playing that extremely unbecoming sycophant who is enraptured (unbelievably) with Raab's character. I didn't realize that it was actually Cartensen until I read a cast list for the film afterwards on allmovie.com (this is the same actress who played Petra Von Kant and Martha??).

I've read that Fassbinder wrote this film to express the sense of "anger" that he often felt when reading the newspaper or listening to the news. It shows - this is a very bitter, repugnant film. Fassbinder's clever wit is far better displayed in films like 'Chinese Roulette' and 'Merchant of Four Seasons.' Leave 'Satan's Brew' at the bottom of your list of must-sees.

Satan's brew
One of the funniest, darkest movies about the sort of self-serving, pretentious rock-star types you will ever see. Kurt Raab gives an incredible performance as the dillusional poet who fancies himself the latter-day Stefan George after he writes a poem that matches George's identically and finds out from his wife and lover. He sculpts himself in the mold of George to the point of even trying the homosexual lifestyle, and failing miserably.

Quite possibly Fassbinder's best movie. I highly recommend this movie, but don't take notes on how to live from Raab's character!

funny and terrifying
Filmed theater at its best. As always, Fassbinder shows us what lurks underneath. This time, its creative inspiraion, married life, sex, etc., etc. A cruel vision of how we really are. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Great satire on self-deception, anarchy & fascism's allure
Review: Great satire on self-deception, anarchy & fascism's allure

Although Fassbinder uses humor in all of his pictures, Satan's Brew (1976) is his only out-and-out, writhing-in-laughter comedy. Extraordinarily, this is also one of his most probing looks at those frailties, and follies, of human nature which give rise to cults of personality and even, he argues, fascism. He does not spare himself either, since he mercilessly satirizes himself through the self-absorbed, sexually insatiable - and hilarious - major character, pseudo-poet Walter Kranz (Kurt Raab). This is a kinky, wickedly funny, and many-layered farce.

In its flawless and highly musical pacing, it bears comparison with such screwball comedy masterpieces as Hawks's His Girl Friday (1940). Although Fassbinder may not have used a metronome, as Hawks did, you can almost imagine him conducting, instead of directing, his ensemble. There is music in the delivery of every line, in every gesture (most broad, some very subtle), in the blocking of actors as they cross and recross each other, not to mention in every movement of the camera, and in every perfectly-timed cut. To stretch the musical analogy a bit further, the film is almost a fugue, with Walter as the principal theme, and each of his women - ranging from a wealthy masochist to a high-class hooker with shady connections and a penchant for knitting to a groveling groupie to several more, including his longsuffering wife - as a separate but interwoven melody.

Perhaps Fassbinder needed this extraordinary degree of precision to counterbalance the chaos of the film's action and emotions. All of those qualities are embodied by the uniformly brilliant cast, including many of his regular actors. Margit Carstensen stands out as the frantically self-abasing groupie; but she is virtually unrecognizable with eyeglass lenses thick as the bottoms of Coke bottles. Could this be the lead of The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Martha, and Fear of Fear? Yes! But the star turn is multi-talented Kurt Raab, who worked with Fassbinder as designer, actor, co-writer, and more, on over 30 films. Raab is hysterical in the lead role of Walter; his every inflection and gesture pure comic brilliance.

The design of the film is a perfect foil for the action. It is both one of Fassbinder's most stylish pictures, with dozens of striking but subtle compositions, and most seamless, with all the elements working together in harmony. Peer Raben has written another inspired score (although the main title music here was initially heard under the climactic scene in Chinese Roulette). The music has a jaunty yet sinister quality which buoys the film, yet allows Fassbinder complete freedom in "conducting" the cast, camera movements, and editing to his own rhythms. All of these elements help create a sort of skewed parallel universe, where people's tastes in house paint colors and fashions, not to mention ultra-kinky romance, are off, and where sadomasochism, violence, and multiple forms of spewing are blithely accepted as the daily norm.

Satan's Brew? Although initially puzzling, the title is a key to the film, which is both diabolical - a self-indulgent hell on earth - and intoxicatingly funny. For an artist like Fassbinder, it should be noted that a "poet," Walter - with a free-range id - is the prime mover behind all the chaos. As Walter says at one point, "True genius lies in madness." Fassbinder, a genius at complexity and paradox, has created a world that is simultaneously wildly subversive (in its energy, colorfulness and unbridled freedom) yet deeply conservative (for who could live in such an insane society).

It is no accident that Fassbinder made Walter an avatar of the gay German romantic poet, Stefan George (1868-1933). As we know from some of the film's most hilarious scenes, he founded his own influential literary circle (but unlike Walter did not need to pay his disciples). George used symbolic imagery and precisely arranged "harmonious" words to produce aesthetic intoxication; one cannot help comparing that to Fassbinder's meticulous care in arranging the images, sounds, and rhythms in this film. Of course, George's affectations, obsession with power, and sexual hypocrisy undercut his utopian goals - a paradox which fascinated Fassbinder.

Walter, of course, never shared George's ideals; he was thrilled just being a magnet for people eager to worship him. Ultimately we are left not with persons but impersonators - from Walter to his fawning fans and beyond - whose emptiness (emotional, creative, even spiritual) demands subjugation and humiliation - an acting out of their own self-loathing, itself a product of their emotional wounds which they refuse to confront. From that debasement to fascism, Fassbinder implies, is only a small step. Here, The Master is the comically diminished Walter, and nascent totalitarianism is represented by only a small cell. But history shows where else those tendencies can lead.

Satan's Brew seems one of Fassbinder's most audacious creations, simultaneously a deliriously effervescent romp and a pitch-black satire on self-deception, anarchy, and the allure of fascism. From a certain - perhaps optimistically twisted - point of view, it might even inspire some people to imagine a better world than our own, although it would be the complete negation of the one here.

Sorry, it's bad
Don't get me wrong, I am a Fassbinder fan. I just find 'Satan's Brew' to be a depressing, over-indulgent mess. It may be a gloomy observation, but you can almost see this work as a sign that Fassbinder's life would eventually come to a tragic end; six years later, the director was dead.

Kurt Raab plays one of the most detestable characters ever in film. Volker Spengler is good as always, but he really is playing a sick puppy in this one. And I'm still shocked that that is Margit Cartensen playing that extremely unbecoming sycophant who is enraptured (unbelievably) with Raab's character. I didn't realize that it was actually Cartensen until I read a cast list for the film afterwards on allmovie.com (this is the same actress who played Petra Von Kant and Martha??).

I've read that Fassbinder wrote this film to express the sense of "anger" that he often felt when reading the newspaper or listening to the news. It shows - this is a very bitter, repugnant film. Fassbinder's clever wit is far better displayed in films like 'Chinese Roulette' and 'Merchant of Four Seasons.' Leave 'Satan's Brew' at the bottom of your list of must-sees.

Satan's brew
One of the funniest, darkest movies about the sort of self-serving, pretentious rock-star types you will ever see. Kurt Raab gives an incredible performance as the dillusional poet who fancies himself the latter-day Stefan George after he writes a poem that matches George's identically and finds out from his wife and lover. He sculpts himself in the mold of George to the point of even trying the homosexual lifestyle, and failing miserably.

Quite possibly Fassbinder's best movie. I highly recommend this movie, but don't take notes on how to live from Raab's character!

funny and terrifying
Filmed theater at its best. As always, Fassbinder shows us what lurks underneath. This time, its creative inspiraion, married life, sex, etc., etc. A cruel vision of how we really are. ... Read more

Description

When Emma Kusters husband goes insane one day at his job and kills his boss' son and then commits suicide, she becomes an unwitting pawn between the Left and the Right in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's scathing look at urban alienation and exploitation. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Compassionate study of a woman, and a scathing social satire
Like all of Fassbinder's best films, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975) is many things at once. It is simultaneously a deeply compassionate portrait of a working-class woman and a scathing satire of her exploitation by the media and political factions, as she tries to clear the name of her dead husband, branded "the factory murderer." It is emotionally rich but intellectually dense, filled with arguments and counter-arguments galore; psychologically astute yet highly stylized and visually lush. It is a comedy, a drama, and much more. It is also an excellent example of how Fassbinder uses image and sound, often in subtle ways, to develop - and play with - his themes. A unique feature is that he wrote and shot two strikingly different endings (both are included on the excellent DVD), one for Europe, and a more hopeful one for the U.S. They provide two very different ways in which the title character "goes to heaven."

The character of Mother Kusters is remarkable for several reasons. Although Fassbinder often has a tendency to allegorize his characters (albeit in fascinating ways), even as he does here, Emma Kusters (Brigitte Mira) is both a potent symbol of The Mother and, simultaneously, a flesh and blood woman. When so many of his characters, not to mention people in the real world, are destroyed by their rigidity, her willingness to explore new ideas - to incorporate an increasingly complex view of the social world, her family, and even herself - seems a genuine form of optimism.

The film's literary roots also connect with Fassbinder's aesthetic and political aims. Although he attributed its inspiration to an obscure story, the key cultural "mother" is Gorky's in his 1906 novel, Mother (an indomitable Russian peasant woman, after having her political consciousness raised through a family tragedy, joins the Russian revolution). It was also dramatized by Brecht, whose theories of how to engage the audience's mind as well as emotions were a crucial early influence on Fassbinder. But sure to raise the hackles of his Leftist predecessors, Fassbinder takes some hilarious jabs at Communists and anarchists, not to mention right-wing journalists. With so much humor, many people consider this an outright comedy.

But Fassbinder also raises many serious, and still-relevant, social issues - about the nature of mass media and politics - even as he returns to one of his perennial themes, exploitation. And although he satirizes most of the characters, except Mother Kusters, he never dehumanizes them. Take the photographer/reporter Niemeyer (Gottfried John). He is tall, lanky, almost vulture-like, yet he comes across as sincere and likeable, even as he wheedles the most intimate details out of Emma Kusters - and even beds her crudely self-promoting daughter Corinna (Ingrid Caven). It would be easy to reduce Niemeyer, for cheap laughs, to a one-dimensional stereotype. But Fassbinder gives him considerable emotional, even moral, depth. And he is defended by Mother Kusters herself: "It's his job to create sensations. Everybody has to make a living." Fassbinder is merciless, and witty, at condemning the institution; but he ekes out some sympathy for the employees.

Fassbinder uses visual design to make his themes still more complex and involving. He begins not with an expected establishing shot, to show us where we are, but by holding on a closeup of Mother Kusters' hands, as she screws a round brown part into a small white plastic box, one after another after another. Eventually he reveals that she is working not in a factory but at her kitchen table, as she laments, "I'm getting slower." The routine is efficient, even graceful, yet dehumanizing. Not only does this establish her socioeconomic status and long-suffering character, it indicates the same type of repetitive work which drove (the never-seen) Mr. Kusters to murder and suicide. Throughout the film, Fassbinder also uses color in fascinating ways, contrasting the unfulfilled lives of the Kusters with bright primaries - blues, yellows, and especially reds. This is simultaneously satirical, poignant, and even beautiful. He also makes achieves visual coherence and thematic resonance through the use of shape. In contrast to the often comic tone, the dominant visual motif is oppressive, of narrow openings (in doorways, halls, corridors) between stark walls, often shot from twisted angles and in shadow.

Although I don't want to give away either of the surprising endings, I believe both are effective. Each gives characters and themes closure, albeit in dramatically - or comically - different ways, even as they bring to mind Mother Kuster's bittersweet key line: "As my [husband] used to say, you have to see the good in all people." Fassbinder understands that simple, but difficult, maxim too, as he explores the emotional complexity of characters and their lives, in a film without any villains, but with one extraordinary woman at its heart.

Naiive Widow Out To Clear Murder/Suicide Husband's Name
Fassbinder's most political film, mixes all imaginable elements dominating the news in 1970s Germany. The story begins with a radio news bullitin about a factory worker going berzerk, killing a supervisor, then himself. The man's lower class family (busy with small assembly "homework") engages in evening small talk, casually mentioning the news flash in their conversation. Minutes later the bad news arrives at the door.

Immediately the vulnerable "Mother Kusters" is hounded by reporters from the boulevard press. Twisting her words, as well as those of children and a pregnant daughter in-law, along with taking countless bad-angle photographs, the press has their story. The name of easy-going, kind and obediant Father Kusters is ruined.

Several characters bring definite color to this unusual story. Mother Kusters' 30-something daughter, an aspiring lounge singer (a la Marlene Dietrich) shamelessly exploits her newly gained celebrity status by initiating press interviews about her father's tragedy, then moving in with the questionable reporter, who also arranged singing work through "connections".

Mother Kusters soon is "lulled in" by some upscale and persuasive communists, who appear sympathetic, but eventually seem to be exploiting the poor old woman for their own political gains. Finally Mother Kusters ends in a bizarre trap she unwittingly fell for: A group of anarchists, under the pretence of assuring that her husband's name will be cleared, use the woman in a hostage stand-off aimed at the release of political prisoners. - The final scene suddenly stops in a freeze frame, with a brief written description of the immediate action to follow. WOW!

Although not among Fassbinder's great classics, this is an impressive film. The statements made here were originally (in the mid-70s) met with criticism. The treatment of communism and anarchy (in a not necessarily negative way) were seen as contrary to common acceptance of the day. Years after the Cold War's end, the story of "the factory murderer" seems dated. Still, a well-worth-seeing film!****

Excuse me, can I exploit your personal tragedy?
A bitingly clever film from Fassbinder. It apparently offended a lot of Germans when it was initially released, but is quite interesting to watch now as a document of Germany in the '70s. No one is the "good guy" here - the newspapers, the Communists, and the anarchists all want to use Mrs. Kuster's tragic story to their own benefit. Even the laughably ignorant Mother Kusters fails to become a sympathetic character. The woman just doesn't have a clue.

As in all Fassbinder films, the regular actresses steal the show. Ingrid Caven is lovely as the aloof nightclub singer. Irm Hermann isn't quite as strong as she is in 'Bitter Tears of P.V.K.' or 'Merchant of Four Seasons,' but she makes an impression all the same. Margit Cartensen and Karl Heinz Bohm are very picturesque as the "armchair Communist" couple - all ideals but probably not willing to make any real sacrifices.

Probably Fassbinder's most political film, and a very important piece of his oeuvre. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

"Will is all that's needed."
Fans of German director, Fassbinder, will not be disappointed in the film, "I Only Want You to Love Me." For some inexplicable reason, the film remains one of Fassbinder's lesser-known films.

Bricklayer, Peter (Vitus Zeplichal) is a rather hapless young man--the only son of a distracted father and icy cold mother. Constant criticism and a total lack of affection from his parents, produces incredible self-doubt and a vast need for approval in Peter. As a child, he develops a habit of gift giving to win affection or approval. Peter's touching attempts to gain affection are largely ignored or even violently punished. As a result, Peter grows up to be a disconnected, disturbed young man. When Peter marries Erika, the young couple moves to Munich to make their own way in the world. Peter is a good, hard worker, and he very quickly finds employment. Life is bleak, however, and Peter succumbs to a constant drive to provide Erika with items they cannot afford. Payments on furniture stretch their budget to the limit, but Peter gives in to his desire to give Erika things that will please her and win her approval. The couple rapidly descends into debt. Bailouts are converted into mad impulse purchases, and as the situation heads into inevitable disaster, Peter sinks into depression. Peter cannot communicate his distress, and those who are supposed to be closest to him are oblivious to it.

This German film with English subtitles is a fine example of Fassbinder at his best. The story is deceptively simple, and the dilemma of a young working class couple is examined with fine detail. Their economic plight is one that many people can identify with. "I Only Want You to Love Me" is based on a true story and the film was originally made for television. Fassbinder fans will find this film to be one of the director's more psychological films. Fassbinder uses the character of Peter to examine the unconscious motivation behind his workaholic drive to work and the emotional void in his life which dictates he constantly shower his unaffectionate family members with gifts.

Fassbinder fans will also note the director's obsession with death is evident in the scenes that place Peter's mother on the settee--covered with flowers. The scene evokes an image of a corpse in a coffin. If you enjoy Fassbinder films as much as I do, then seek out a copy of this film--it's a masterpiece--displacedhuman ... Read more