I liked "Veronika Voss" surprisingly much. I saw some themes in there that kept my interest. So far I hadn't liked RWF's films of his last period (that's out of three periods). I especially liked how it took the word "Sehnsucht" literally: sehnen = yearning; Sucht = addiction. It's how I like to ponder on the word.What I think appealed to Robert about Veronika was her public status. She was a prestigious grande dame, not unattractive and he thought she was rich. Such a person has a special appeal. Robert's girlfriend also understood this appeal very well and almost accepted the situation without putting up a fight. Robert's appeal for Veronika was that she told herself that he was interested in her for her own (fading) beauty, while in reality he did recognize the film star before he offered her "umbrella and protection".A moment that made me break out in laughter was also towards the beginning when Veronika and Robert are having a drink, he says something like "reality isn't like a movie", she agrees and not even a second later she turns to the waiter and bursts out: "The lighting is hideous in here! Turn those lights off and light the candles!" Also unsubtle but very poignant and a humorous moment.For a minute I was a bit disappointed when in the film suddenly a villain emerged in the person of the doctor. It wasn't what I wanted from the film, but it unexpectedly actually made this RWF's most suspenseful film because of the second half. I find it to be more of a thriller than 'Martha' was.The scene with Veronika denying Robert Krohn in front of the police I thought would have made a satisfying and poignant ending but it continued the story quite hastily with Veronika dying and Robert giving up, which eventually also made for a good and probably even more poignant ending.I'm sure those anything-but-subtle lens flares had their purpose. For Veronika it wasn't just a happy past but she glorifies this time of her life, which justifies this extreme visual effect.The overall bright B&W photography is excellent eye candy. It's an unusual approach to tell a dark story in so much white and to tell a relatively sober period piece in stark B&W.

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.

A man runs into a pretty but aging woman in the middle of a rainstorm. He politely protects her from the downpour with his umbrella, and even lifts her over a fence so she can get to her bus. He also gets on the bus, and, beginning to pant, she declares that she can't go near anyone else on the bus, because she's a famous actress and she'll be thronged. The other passengers on the bus look up at the exasperated woman, but don't pay her any more mind than that. A bit later, the woman proudly tells the man that she is Veronika Voss, and all he can do is politely nod. She hasn't been in a movie for three years, and hasn't been in a good one for longer than that. Veronika has to try really hard to pin the man, Robert, down and seduce him, and even when she accomplishes this feat he doesn't seem particularly interested. Robert's interest does grow when he begins to discover some nasty secrets about her life, notably that she is addicted to morphine. A strange doctor seems to be little more than a local drug dealer when he begins to look into the situation.The plot is decent; it would have been a really good one for a classic Hollywood film starring Joan Crawford or Bette Davis or someone like that. Its greatest worth is in the performance of Rosel Zech, who has the titular role. Cornelia Froboess as Robert's girlfriend and Annemarie Düringer as the wicked doctor are also good. The character of Robert is never very interesting. The black and white cinematography (Xaver Schwarzenberger) and the unconventional score (Peer Raben) are very good. The tape I watched was not in a very good condition, so I may have liked it more if I had seen a better copy. 8/10.

The black & white cinematography is extremely elegant and in some scenes the light points shine as stars. Fassbinder adopts styles similar to those from the films where Veronika Voss could have acted if she existed, and leads the film to the end without much of his forced pedantism. Among the best scenes is one of the final sequences, in which Veronika dreams being again the center of the attentions (singing "Dreams are made of this"), and the continuous takes in her attempt to reestabilish her acting. Near its half, the film starts to lose the cohesion and some ways of development of the plot are wasted to arrive in a stupid and complacent ending.