Fassbinder: Love Without Demands | Telescope Film
Fassbinder: Love Without Demands

Fassbinder: Love Without Demands (Fassbinder – lieben ohne zu fordern)

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  • Denmark
  • 2015
  • · 109m

Director Christian Braad Thomsen
Cast Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Irm Hermann, Harry Baer, Andrea Schober, Lilo Pempeit
Genre Documentary

Rainer Werner Fassbinder was probably Germany’s most significant post-war director. His swift and dramatic demise at the early age of 37 in 1982 left behind a vacuum in European filmmaking that has yet to be filled, as well as a body of unique, multi-layered and multifarious work of astonishing consistency and rigour. From 1969 onwards, Danish director and film historian Christian Braad Thomsen maintained a close yet respectfully distanced friendship with Fassbinder. Fassbinder – Lieben ohne zu fordern is based on his personal memories as well as a series of conversations and interviews he held with Fassbinder and his mother Lilo in the 1970s.

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What are critics saying?

83

The Playlist by Jessica Kiang

Thomsen builds a fascinating film around a fascinating man, but never, despite his evident deep affection for him, allows it to fall into hagiography.

70

The Hollywood Reporter by Jordan Mintzer

It’s a must-see for anyone interested in the mind of a major auteur, even if Thomsen tends to favor psychology over cinema.

70

Village Voice by Melissa Anderson

Thomsen culls wisely from Fassbinder's filmography to illustrate the kino-giant's abiding themes, patricide and masochism among them.

60

Variety by Jay Weissberg

Students of the astonishing body of films won’t find much that enhances their understanding, yet Thomsen’s footage offers more than mere scraps from a great career, and deserves inclusion in the corpus.

60

Screen International by Fionnuala Halligan

This is an idiosyncratic hop around Fassbinder’s life by his Danish film historian friend Thomsen.

60

The Guardian

We leave the documentary loving the films rather than the film-maker.

60

The New York Times by Stephen Holden

The access to Fassbinder that the relationship provided was a boon to the film, but a disadvantage as well because the close-up view results in a patchy portrait rather than a coherent biography.