IMDb > Lola (1981)

Overview

User Rating:
7.7/10   1,490 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 6% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Writers:
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (writer)
Pea Fröhlich (writer)
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Lola on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
4 August 1982 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Plot:
Ten years after the war, West Germany's market economy is booming. Into an unnamed city that's rife with corruption comes a new building commissioner... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
3 wins more
NewsDesk:
(7 articles)
Weekly DVD & Blu-Ray Chopping List 9/08/2009
 (From Fangoria. 5 September 2009, 10:00 PM, PDT)
Movie Review: “The International”
 (From screeninglog. 15 February 2009, 8:34 PM, PST)
User Comments:
Hormones and local government more (7 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Barbara Sukowa ... Lola

Armin Mueller-Stahl ... Von Bohm
Mario Adorf ... Schukert
Matthias Fuchs ... Esslin
Helga Feddersen ... Frau Hettich
Karin Baal ... Lola's Mother
Ivan Desny ... Wittich
Elisabeth Volkmann ... Gigi
Hark Bohm ... Volker
Karl-Heinz von Hassel ... Timmerding (as Karl Heinz von Hassel)
Rosel Zech ... Frau Schuckert
Sonja Neudorfer ... Frau Fink
Christine Kaufmann ... Susi
Y Sa Lo ... Rosa
Günther Kaufmann ... GI
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
113 min
Country:
West Germany
Language:
German
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
Spain:13 (re-rating) | Iceland:L | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16
Filming Locations:
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Company:
Rialto Film more

Fun Stuff

Quotes:
Von Bohm: I want to buy your prostitute!
Schukert: With pleasure.
[Schukert grabs and gives Lola to Von Bohm]
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Lola (2001) more
Soundtrack:
Unter fremden Sternen more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful.
Hormones and local government, 21 December 2008
Author: federovsky from bangkok

Part of his loose BRD (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) Trilogy - portraits of women in German society after the war - this late Fassbinder is based on the same story behind Sternberg's Blue Angel. Lola is a nightclub singer and prostitute, personal whore of larger-than-life property developer Schukert, at a red-light establishment favoured by the mayor and his cronies. Into this cosy, corrupt world comes a new Building Commissioner, Von Bohm – a meticulous character that the others cannot draw into their circle. With plenty of building going on in Germany during the 50s, Von Bohm is an important official whom the mayor must somehow get around in order to continue bending the rules on lucrative construction deals. By coincidence, Von Bohm meets and falls in love with Lola, unaware that she is a prostitute. When he finds out, he is devastated, but finally, by way of pragmatism, a moral compromise is reached – boy, are they compromised - and the film comes to rest on a somewhat absurd moral sandbank.

None of the characters are likable – they are all seedy local politicians, after all, but they slowly grow on us. Schukert, in particular takes some getting used to. Fassbinder takes delight in showing us that everyone is corrupt – even apparently incorruptible people. Everyone has a weakness, which is their price. Both money and desire corrupts and debases – it's inevitable - you might as well be practical about it, take pity on yourself and embrace it. In particular, corruption is the price of having eroticism in the world – and that's something we can't do without.

As the film goes along, the darkish tone gives way to levity once you realise that nobody is really going to get hurt. There are some genuinely pensive and romantic moments as well as some fairly gently humour - Von Bohm's neurotic secretary is quite funny. Very little is convincing though - particularly the Von Bohm's infatuation (he seems a little too old, and a little too naive) – and the outcome is even less so. There's very little reliable sociology going on here. Women are viewed as chattels and Lola herself is not really given an adequate personality – nor was Barbara Sukowa noteworthy in the part.

It's worth watching if only for it's striking visual design. The film is lit throughout in lurid primary colours – even outside in broad daylight faces are bathed in coloured light. Perhaps these colours spread outwardly from the nightclub's red light, diffracting through the ordinary world into rainbow hues. It is sometimes intrusive, but mainly effective and attractive.

Fassbinder has extracted one aspect of social behaviour and amplified it to absurdity here. This is not the way the world is, but is perhaps the way he would like it to be: fallible and corrupt, but erotic and benign.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (7 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Lola (1981)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Thank Goodness! whitrix
Lola - An Openly Flamboyant Look From Beginning to End larryball43
Barbara Sukowa's 'unrehearsed' big number filmchap
more

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
Buffalo Soldiers Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte Mahler The Mystic Masseur Blue Velvet
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
News articles IMDb Drama section IMDb West Germany section
Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.