Fassbinder's penultimate film, a Golden Berlin Bear winner in 1982, VERONIKA VOSS is a strikingly- looking black-and-white art-house vehicle loosely blueprinted on the tragic real life story of German film star Sybille Schmitz (VAMPYR 1932, MASTER OF THE WORLD 1934, TITANIC 1943).The time-line is set in 1955, post-WWII Munich, Veronika Voss (Zech) is an over-the-hill middle- aged actress, her career has remained stagnant for years, divorced by her screenwriter husband Max (Mueller-Stahl), now she lives in a psychiatric clinic governed by Dr. Marianne Katz (Düringer) and her assistant Josefa (Schade), where in Schmitz's story, they are a lesbian couple. They proffer her morphine for her addiction in exchange of her estate and fortune, it is a shady racket in broad daylight which ensnares many pain-afflicting addicts, once their clients are no longer affordable, they will discard them like insignificant pawns.Veronika is very close to this peril, will her be saved? The supposed knight in shining amour is Robert Krohn (Thate), a short, ordinary-looking sports journalist in his mid-40s, who has a stable girlfriend Henriette (Froboess) and doesn't even recognise her when they first meet during a downpour in the night, maybe this is a major reason why Veronika finds him special, deems him as someone who can simply treat her as an attractive woman, without all the celebrity halos. Their rendezvous evade any surreptitious pretences, Robert is fairly open about that and once Veronika even asks for his escort to her estate in spite of Henriette's presence. Veronika is a damaged good already, pompous, insecure and self-seeking, sees Robert as her last straw to revitalise her life and plans a dramatic return to the limelight, yet, all will fall flat since her Achilles heel is firmly clutched by the evil doctors, she cannot be saved, it is physically impossible, a fatalistic manifesto to those incorrigibly poisoned, corrupted and weak-minded. Zech manifests a telling facet of Veronika's jittery unstableness, holds great poise while inside she is beyond salvation.Thate's Robert, a common victim of an everyman's heroic fantasy, to fall for a damsel-in-distress, and rescues her from whatever evil force torments her. Only in Fassbinder's book, the reality is too gloom to conjure up a gratifying victory, Robert has to endure a bigger loss other than Veronika, Thate's performance brings about quite a subtle poignancy as the story goes into a more sinister twist. Annemarie Düringer, strikes up a whiff of frigid viciousness underneath Dr. Katz's usual professional persona, so is Froboess, her Henriette is the only innocent person in it, piqued by the blatant affair, but she doesn't counteract with resent or jealousy, on the contrary, she risks herself in Robert's plan to expose Dr. Katz's seedy business, unaware of the lurking danger. Innocence simply cannot reside in this corrupt world.Fassbinder's sleight-of-hand with lights and shadows infuses a nostalgic glamour to its texture; many a time, the camera moves like a serpentine, observing behind glasses like a voyeur, especially in the brightly white psychiatric clinic, extremely inhuman as if all the human trace has been sterilised altogether.As the second part of Fassbinder's BRD Trilogy, THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN (1979) is the first one, and LOLA (1981) released one-year earlier than VERONIKA VOSS, is captioned as the third chapter, the film is a pessimistic probe into WWII residual affected on this one particular specimen, Veronika chooses to forget about the past and move on (it is implied she was in an affair with Goebbels), numbs herself with indulgence on drugs, one may argue that she is bringing all the trouble on herself, that's why, the ending is so cold and despondent, we cannot pretend nothing has happened, there must be consequences for those who are participated, whether actively or passively.

It is quite amazing that despite the huge literature about Fassbinder's work, there seems to be not one single monograph dedicated explicitly to the function of the epilogues in Fassbinder's movies.The most known of the "episodes" is the 2-hours long film "My dream of the dream of Franz Biberkopf", a summary and personal interpretation as well as continuation of "Berlin Alexanderplatz" (1978/79), published as part 14 of the mini-series. Characteristic of this all the other Fassbinder-Eplilogues are: Apocalyptic decoration, disruption of any possible plot lines and connections between the characters; transportation of a text spoken by a figure onto other figures who repeat that text, but in an other context; basic topics: religion, end of life, apocalypse, revelation, resurrection, connection between sexuality and church. A special function is given to the rather short epilogue, that is embedded in the film, in "Veronika Voss" (1982): After the former UFA-star has gotten a chance to celebrate her own "glamorous" farewell, she dreams the whole evening again and varies so-to-say the crucial moments: What would have happened if she had told Robert Krohn about her morphine-addiction? Was there a chance to still escape her destruction by her psychiatrist? To start a new life with Robert? To resume her career? Only through this epilogue it becomes clear why Veronika did not take her chance of escaping her addiction and imprisoning when she meets Robert for the first time in the Geiselgasteig forest, why she prefers to lie on herself instead of giving up her attitude which alone enables Dr. Katz to turn her into her propriety. Through the epilogue, we realize that Veronika Voss had started her "trip into the light" (Fassbinder) already a long time ago: a trip of no return. So, one is seduced to speculate that Fassbinder's last movie "Querelle" (1982) is nothing but an epilogue chosen by the dying director in order to interpret and reinterpret his life and his 66 films (every episode counted). Going back in time, changing the switches - and how would the present look then, now? Franz Biberkopf gets, pace epilogue, another change, turns back to life and spends his last decades in complete anonymity. Veronika Voss does not get a chance anymore, because she is one of Fassbinder's "light"-persons, like Herr R. in "Why does Herr R. run amok", Fox in "Fox and his friends", Lily Brest in "Shadow of Angels", Effi Briest in "Effi Briest", Herr Bauer in "Fear of Fear", Mother Küsters in "Mother Küsters' Trip to Heaven", Elvira/Erwin in "A Year with 13 Moons" - here one might also mention the persons who "survive" crippled or demented - like Martha in "Martha", Margot in "Fear of Fear", Peter in "I only want you to love me", Franz Xaver Bolwieser in "The Stationmaster's Wife" and many others of Fassbinder's universe. For Querelle and his friends, the question does not rise anymore, since the whole story is situated already in an imaginary future to which Zehetbauer's total artificial studio-set corresponds marvelously. The end of interpretations and reinterpretations as given in the "Epilogues" takes place only when the present Topoi have overcome and have been substituted by a future Ou-Topia.

Veronika Voss (1982) was the final part of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's celebrated trilogy of films that looked specifically at the period following the end of the Second World War, and in particular, the socio-political and economic re-birth of Germany following the Wirtschaftswunder. All three films in the trilogy look at these situations through the eyes of a strong-willed, arrogant and determined female-protagonist who strives against all odds to achieve the kind of lifestyle that she has always desired, but, once she does, finds herself still feeling empty and lacking in spirit. The characters in these films come to represent Fassbinder's own feelings about the Germany of this particular period, whilst simultaneously acting as an allegorical portrayal and deeper interpretation of the qualities and characteristics of the country itself.The first film in this loose, thematic trilogy, The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), looked at the ideas of determination and the triumph of will that would go towards rebuilding Germany from the ashes of the Second World War through the eyes of resolute young woman willing to push her own emotional stability to breaking point in order to secure a better future for her and her incarcerated husband. The second film, Lola (1981), which took its inspiration from Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel (1930), looked at how that same sense of opportunism, greed and determination can be used for more selfish reasons, sowing the seeds of tragedy and eventual air of blind exploitation that will come full circle here. Veronika Voss exists in very much the same cinematic universe as the two other films that would come to form the backbone of what would eventually become known "the BRD trilogy"; though Fassbinder himself had often talked of plans to make more films in a similar vein - analysing post-war German history through to the present day - but was unable to continue the theme due to his untimely death in June of 1982.It would have been interesting to see where Fassbinder would have taken these continuing themes following Veronika Voss, which ends on a perfect note of heartbreaking cynicism, very much in tune with the Germany, and indeed, the world itself at the end of the 1970's; representing in a sense the same emotional landscape of cold desperation and political confusion presented in his more personal, contemporary-set films of the same era, such as In a Year of 13 Moons (1978) and The Third Generation (1979). Like those films, Veronika Voss continues Fassbinder's reputation as probably the greatest exploitation filmmaker who ever lived, in the sense of the crushing despair and continual disappointment that befalls his various characters whenever they put their trust in the hands of others. This can be seen as far back as the masterful Fox and his Friends (1975) as well as the underrated Mother Kusters' Trip to Heaven (1976), with Veronika Voss continuing the themes of those particular films, but with the greater sense of visual experimentation and bold use of mise-en-scene that would be found in his last few films following The Marriage of Maria Braun.Whereas that film employed a much grittier use of production design and almost unglamorous use of cinematography - the complete antithesis to the subsequent Lola and its gorgeous kaleidoscope of luminous colours and expressive use of shadow - Veronika Voss is presented in cold, stark, gorgeously textured black and white. The use of photography combined with the costume and production design not only give us a definite feel for the period in which the film is set, but also a great understanding of the moods of the characters and the atmosphere of the world in which they inhabit. It also allows Fassbinder and his cinematographer Xaver Schwarzenberger to draw parallels, not only to the 40's and 50's set Hollywood melodramas that have seemingly inspired the plot and use of character - I'm thinking specifically of references to Sunset Blvd (1950) - but also capturing the very iconic style of the early, pre-Second World War cinema of the UFA film studios, which plays an important part in Veronika's spiral into the pits of despair.Fassbinder incorporates other elements such as a romantic subplot and traces of a perhaps volatile love triangle with more elaborate references to detective fiction, cinema and the blurring of the past with the present. These stylistic devices help to keep the film moving with a brisk enough pace, while the continual use of confinement and claustrophobic camera angles that exaggerate how close, yet similarly disconnected the characters are from one another, help to convey the more hopeless and alienated aspects of Veronika's internal state-of-mind. Without question, this is one of Fassbinder's most interesting films; a bleak and bitter minor masterpiece that continues the themes and ideas behind The Marriage of Maria Braun and Lola, whilst also bringing to a close, in hindsight, a number of reoccurring themes familiar to anyone with a fondness for or interest in Fassbinder's life and work.Veronika Voss is intelligent and deeply emotional film-making rife with ideas that are still relevant, both socially and historically; such as the aforementioned allusions to the UFA film studios as well as Veronika's hinted affair with Joseph Goebbels and the broader, more controversial historical implications suggested therein. As with the majority of the Fassbinder's work, Veronika Voss is intense, evocative and unbelievably well acted - particularly by Rosel Zech, Himar Thate and Annemarie Düringer - though it is perhaps worth mentioning that the bleak arch of the narrative combined with the almost despairing allusions to the again aforementioned Sunset Blvd (and films of that ilk) may be a little too formidable or uninviting for some. Although Fassbinder would go on to produce one more film before his death, the dizzying and surreal adaptation of Genet's Querelle (1982), Veronika Voss - along with the other two films in the BRD trilogy - is a fitting testament to his enormous talent and under-appreciated genius.

This was my introduction to the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder & only one of a short selection of New German Cinema I have seen.Immediate thoughts were that the direction is nice, Fassbinder has a fascination of adding touches such as shooting from behind objects such as windows and walls and framing the scene within this context as well as lots of interplay with shadows. The black and white is used to a really good contrast and if anything the film is pleasing to look at. Scenes with the leading lady have glitter shining off her jewelery and it looks like you would expect fame in all its superficial but alluring glory.The soundtrack is great, I get off on detail in this area and radio interludes constantly playing in the background a'la Midnight Cowboy along with well timed emotional musical cues are very effective. A few songs are highlighted in key scenes such as some twangy country music and the beautiful vocal number towards the end which provides quite an impact on the senses.The thing that really lets Veronica Voss down is the story, its good but its just not very interesting. A sports reported has an affair with a fading actress, who is involved in a plot by a neurologist that hooks rich patients up with morphine to get their trust and eventually their fortune when they die. Now... it sounds workable and it is. But its rather plodding how it is played out, although the actors are fantastic and do a great job portraying their characters it all feels very superficial and it is hard to sympathize with their plight. Some might argue that this is the intention of the film maker to get across the superficial nature of actresses in general but it doesn't feel so convincing to me.In short Veronica Voss is a feast for the eyes at times, and the soundtrack is excellent but something feels a tad hollow. Most of the appeal seems to come from that it shows off the era, and well I can respect it for that.