Veronika Voss is a black and white
1982-Events:* March 26 = I Ought to Be in Pictures, starring Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff is released. Manoff would not appear in another movie until 1987's Backfire.* June = PG-rated film E.T...
film
directedA film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by
Rainer Werner FassbinderRainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
. Its original
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
title is
Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss, which means
The Longing of Veronika Voss.
This, Fassbinder's penultimate film, is the last film of his
BRD TrilogyThe BRD Trilogy consists of three films directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder: The Marriage of Maria Braun , Veronika Voss , and Lola . The films are connected in a thematic rather than in a narrative sense...
, coming after
The Marriage of Maria BraunThe Marriage of Maria Braun is a 1979 West German film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The film stars Hanna Schygulla as Maria, whose marriage with the soldier Hermann remained unfulfilled due to World War II and his post-war imprisonment...
and
Lola.
Synopsis
The film is loosely based on the career of actress
Sybille SchmitzSybille Schmitz was a German actress.-Biography:Schmitz attended an acting school in Cologne and got her first engagement at Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater in Berlin in 1927. Only one year later, she made her film debut with Freie Fahrt , which attracted her first attention from the critics...
and is influenced by
Billy WilderBilly Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
’s
Sunset Boulevard.
MunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, 1955. Veronika Voss is a formerly popular
UFAUniversum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
film star who is now struggling to get roles. She meets a sports reporter named Robert Krohn and is impressed that he does not know who she is. The two begin a love affair, even though Robert already lives with his girlfriend Henriette, who nevertheless realizes that Veronika has an irresistible allure. Veronika’s behavior is erratic and sometimes desperate, and as Robert delves into her life he discovers that she is essentially a captive to a corrupt neurologist named Dr. Marianne Katz. Dr. Katz keeps Veronika addicted to opiates and uses her power to give or deny drugs to bleed the actress of her wealth. To verify his suspicions, Robert has Henriette approach Dr. Katz and pretend to be a rich woman in need of psychiatric care. Dr. Katz writes Henriette a prescription for an opiate but witnesses her making a phone call in the street outside the office. Dr. Katz then has Henriette killed and effectively covers up the crime when Robert arrives with the police. The film ends tragically as Dr. Katz and her cohorts have Veronika sign over all that she owns and give her a fatal dose of pills. After Veronika’s death, Robert observes the villains celebrating their victory and is unable to do a thing.
Comment
Fassbinder has a cameo role in the beginning of the film sitting behind Voss in a movie theatre and watching her old movie. Lilo Pempeit (also Liselotte Eder) who plays the manager of a jewelry store was Fassbinder's mother.
Gũnther KaufmannGünther Kaufmann is a German film actor best known for his association with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Fassbinder directed Kaufmann in a total of 14 films, casting him in a variety of leading and minor roles...
, for whom Fassbinder earlier had an unrequited infatuation, plays in all three films of the cycle. In this one he is an enigmatic African-American G.I.
Juliane LorenzJuliane Lorenz is a German film editor best known for her work with and relationship to director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Lorenz is the head of the Fassbinder Foundation, an organization that seeks to preserve and promote the filmmaker's legacy...
, seen in the brief role of a secretary, was a close associate of Fassbinder and the editor of this film; she became the chief executive of Fassbinder's estate, the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation in 1992. Lorenz spotted an article in
Die ZeitDie Zeit is a German nationwide weekly newspaper that is highly respected for its quality journalism.With a circulation of 488,036 and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper...
about Schmitz's legal case and drew it to Fassbinder's attention.
Main cast
- Rosel Zech
Rosalie Helga Lina Zech , known as Rosel Zech, was a German theater and film actress, especially with the "Autorenkino" movement, which began in the 1970s.-Theater:...
– Veronika Voss
- Hilmar Thate
Hilmar Thate is a German actor. He has appeared in 40 films and television shows since 1955.-Selected filmography:* The Gleiwitz Case * Professor Mamlock * Der geteilte Himmel * Angels of Iron...
– Robert Krohn
- Cornelia Froboess
Cornelia Froboess is a German actress and a teen idol of the 1950s and early 1960s. During that time, Froboess appeared in many musical films, especially after the rock and roll wave had hit Germany...
– Henriette
- Annemarie Düringer
Annemarie Düringer is a Swiss actress. She graduated from the Cours Simon in Paris in 1946, and from the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna in 1947. She is the daughter of a Swiss industrialist...
– Dr. Marianne Katz
- Armin Mueller-Stahl
Armin Mueller-Stahl is a German film actor, painter, writer and musician.-Early life:Mueller-Stahl was born in Tilsit, East Prussia...
– Max Rehbein, a screenwriter and Voss' former husband
Awards
The film was entered into the
32nd Berlin International Film FestivalThe 32nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 12 to February 23, 1982.-Jury:* Joan Fontaine * Vladimir Baskakov* Brigitte Fossey* Joe Hembus* László Lugossy* Gian Luigi Rondi* Helma Sanders-Brahms...
, where it won the
Golden BearAccording to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....
.
External links