FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Lola 

At the very beginning we see a black and white picture of Adenauer. This is accompanied by the awful music of Freddy Quinn. Adenauer was chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 63. We see him half lying there on a couch while he listens to a tape recorder. Perhaps he is listening to Mozart or Bach? But certainly not the truth of what was happening out there in the young Federal Republic during the 1950s. Out there, where the new free market system is establishing itself. At that time, when the cities were disfigured with evil new buildings, bribes flowed, cheated and possibly murdered. It was shortly before his death in 1981 that Fassbinder completed Lola from his BRD trilogy. Similar to Maria Braun, Lola became a bitter satire in garish art colors. It deals with the West German economic miracle. In retrospect, Fassbinder's film is even sadder than I remembered. This must have been during the 90s when I unconditionally watched ALL Fassbinder films. This is not the coming-of-age work of an already burned-out genius. It is the work of the most important German filmmaker at the zenith of his skills! He had refined his methods, which were known from earlier films, and at the same time developed new ones. Fassbinder could have continued to work like this for decades! Of course, The Blue Angel serves as a model. The uptight elderly teacher who falls in love with the nightclub singer Lola. But the similarities remain superficial. Fassbinder's Lola is set in 1955 in a small German town, where developers and politicians profitably develop all sorts of resources. Then newly appointed construction commissioner Bohm (Armin Mueller-Stahl) steps into their midst. Well-born, attractive with elegant manners. Above all, Bohm amazes with his idealism. Meanwhile, the construction entrepreneur Schuckert (Mario Adorf) consorts with Lola (Barbara Sukowa) in the town's whorehouse. Lola is Schluckert's mistress and the mother of an illegitimate child. But she is just as ambitious as everyone else in town. Lola is amused by the way Schluckert - the pig - allows himself to be intimidated by Bohm. And she is annoyed that Schluckert claims that she, the whore, could never attract the interest of an aristocrat like Bohm. Therefore, over champagne, Lola bets that Bohm will kiss her hand in public.... Fassbinder shows more interest in analyzing the rotten political system than his characters. Lola is nevertheless rich in emotional detail! Especially Lola herself, who never reveals her profession or the fact that her mother is Bohm's housekeeper, offers quite a lot of drama. Lola is genuinely attracted to Bohm. Yet she never loses sight of her goal of becoming one of "them." A part of the bourgeoisie. And how she achieves that is one of the film's greatest surprises!