In einem Jahr mit 13 Monden (1978)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writer:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (writer)

Release Date:

11 June 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

This drama follows the last few days in the life of Elvira (formerly Erwin) Weisshaupt. Years before...

Plot Keywords:

Unrequited Love | Transvestism | Sex | Prostitute | Slaughterhouse

Cast

Volker Spengler	...	Erwin / Elvira Weishaupt
Ingrid Caven	...	Die rote Zora
Gottfried John	...	Anton Saitz
Elisabeth Trissenaar	...	Irene Weishaupt
Eva Mattes	...	Marie-Ann Weishaupt
Günther Kaufmann	...	J. Smolik, Chauffeur
Lilo Pempeit	...	Schwester Gudrun (as Lieselotte Pempeit)
Isolde Barth	...	Sybille
Karl Scheydt	...	Christoph Hacker
Walter Bockmayer	...	Seelenfrieda
Peter Kollek	...	Saeufer
Bob Dorsay	...	Selbstmörder
Gerhard Zwerenz	...	Burghard Hauser, Schriftsteller

Also Known As:

In a Year of 13 Moons
In a Year with 13 Moons (USA)

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Frankfurt/Main, Hesse, Germany

Company:

Filmverlag der Autoren

Trivia:

Volker Spengler (playing Elvira Weishaupt) improvised the Dialogue on the Tape towards the end completely alone.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Liebe und Verzweiflung (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Frankie Teardrop

boring but thought provoking

This film effectively dealt with emotions. The emotions that the actor felt was conveyed to the audience effectively. For example, when the transsexual woman cried in the game shop, she was crying because of despair. She was alone and helpless. There were two men who went up to her, but they only looked at her and did not help her. This was an effective scene which conveyed a variety of emotions from sadness, despair to the cruelty and indifference of the people in the world.

However, there were times when the film became boring. The scene where a prostitute friend of his flipped the channels of the TV was very long. It was probably about 10 minutes long! The woman aimlessly look at the television, changed the channels, and a minute later changed the channel again. This went on for so long that I did not understand why the scene had to be so long.

Also it was strange that she had to watch a man hanging himself, without intervening. Normally, if you see someone trying to kill himself, you would stop him. This is the natural response. However, in that scene, she did not stop the man, but totally ignored him and let him kill himself. I tried to analyse why there was such a response. Maybe it was because the director wanted to increase the level of sadness, that the woman in the film felt so sad that she could not care about anyone.

The part revealing the woman's past life was touching. I felt sad when they said that she could not be adopted from the orphanage because her biological mother did not approve of this. She was afraid of letting her husband know that she gave birth to a child without his knowledge. Because of this selfishness, she missed a chance of getting real love from her adopted parents.

In short, I think there are lots to think about from the film. It is highly thought provoking.