The Stationmaster's Wife

More of the sensitive, attentive drama that I expect from this director; probably the most direct of his Döblin influence before Alexanderplatz, which is not a bad thing. Very impressive camerawork & roles from the Fassbinder regulars [an early one from Udo Kier, too]. It's a shame no one has yet to release the televised version, even if nothing much feels missing in the shorter cut until the slightly abrupt end.

Fassbinder at his most relentlessly bleak and depressing, counteracted somewhat by Michael Ballhaus' always-appealing cinematography at it's most lavishly baroque (lots of mirrors and windows). Audiences who have trouble with the director's depiction of women will have a field day with this one, and they'd sort of have a point if the male characters weren't also uniformly awful (including a typically doltish and pathetic turn from Kurt Raab as the titular stationmaster).