Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1980
Parts 1-3, 199 min.
Part 1: The Punishment Begins
Part 2: How Is One to Live If One Doesn’t Want to Die
Part 3: A Hammer Blow on the Head Can Injure the Soul
Personal anguish finds rich expression in Fassbinder’s adaptation of Alfred Döblin’s 1929 novel about Weimar Berlin. Shot in 16mm for broadcast on German television, Fassbinder’s 15-plus-hour film is divided into 13 episodes with an epilogue that revisits Berlin Alexanderplatz’s disintegrating world. The epic film follows Franz Biberkopf (Günter Lamprecht) as he is released from prison and makes his way through the violent and impoverished city. SFMOMA is pleased to join the Pacific Film Archive and the Goethe-Institut in presenting the West Coast premiere of Fassbinder’s epic. In German with English subtitles.