Fresh
Fassbinder's historicism is a crucial aspect of his modernism: he didn't just make use of prior forms, he quoted them, and derived from them the ironies implicit in his melodramatic styles.
Richard Brody, New Yorker
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
1974 · 1h 33m · Not Rated
Drama, Romance
Directed by
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
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Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Overview
Emmi Kurowski, a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship. One night she goes to a bar frequented by Arab immigrants and strikes up a friendship with middle-aged mechanic Ali. Their relationship soon develops into something more, and Emmi's family and neighbors criticize their spontaneous marriage. Soon Emmi and Ali are forced to confront their own insecurities about their future.
Director and cast
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder Director
- Brigitte Mira as Emmi Kurowski (Emanuela ben Salem M'Barek Mohammed Mustapha)
- El Hedi ben Salem as Ali (El Hedi ben Salem M'Barek Mohammed Mustapha)
- Irm Hermann as Krista
- Barbara Valentin as Barbara
- Elma Karlowa as Frau Kargus
- Anita Bucher as Frau Ellis
- Gusti Kreissl Cast
- Doris Mattes Cast
- Margit Symo Cast
- Katharina Herberg Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
100%
Tomatometer
Fresh
This 1974 film stands as one of Fassbinder's sturdiest achievements, posed between the low-budget funkiness of his early features and the mannerism of his late period.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Fresh
Technically flawless, deceptively simple and avoiding excesses, it is about problems that are timely and timeless in implications.
Variety Staff, Variety
Fresh
Fassbinder uses dramatic and visual excess to push everyday events to extremes, achieving a degree of political and psychological truth not accessible through mere social realism.
Nigel Floyd, Time Out
Fresh
It is, rather, another quite courageous attempt by Mr. Fassbinder to develop a film style free of the kind of realistic conventions that sentimentalize life's mysteries.
Vincent Canby, New York Times
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