The Fan (1982)

The hero-worship that Simone has for a pop singer is built to a crescendo until she passes out when she finally sees him up-close in a crowd of fans. She is later shocked when he lets her know that he does not love her.

Director:

Eckhart Schmidt

Writer:

Eckhart Schmidt

Stars:

Désirée Nosbusch, Bodo Staiger, Simone Brahmann

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Désirée Nosbusch	...	Simone
Bodo Staiger	...	'R'
Simone Brahmann	...	Sekretärin
Jonas Vischer	...	Vater
Helga Tölle	...	Mutter
Klaus Münster	...	Briefträger
Ian Moorse	...	Junge
Wilfried Blasberg	...	Mann mit Hund
Sabine Kueckelmann	...	'B'
Claudia Schumann	...	Mädchen
Nikolai Hoffmann	...	Manager
Michael Fluehme	...	Promotion-Mann
Oliver Betz	...	Popper
Doro Hilzinger	...	Mädchen
Joachim Fuchsberger	...	Mann im Fernsehen

Storyline

The hero-worship that Simone has for a pop singer is built to a crescendo until she passes out when she finally sees him up-close in a crowd of fans pushing him for autographs. She is later shocked when he lets her know that he does not love her. In an instant, she is caught "in a trance" and feels a murderous urge that is bigger than the both of them.

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Plot Keywords:

fan | pop singer | teenage girl cannibal | cannibalism | singer | 

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Taglines:

Er ist ein Star - sie erst 17 - Liebe in Trance ...

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

In her contract, popular German TV moderator Désirée Nosbusch agreed to shoot the nude scenes together with Bodo Staiger. After stills from those scenes were published during the marketing campaign of the film, she tried to stop the release. After a long trial that caused a scandal in German press, she finally lost and the film was released in the original version by director Eckhart Schmidt. Schmidt and Nosbusch reconciled their struggle years after that and became friends again.

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Alternate Versions

The UK DVD, released by Oracle, had 15 seconds cut by the BBFC; to remove R's (Bodo Steiger) mouth passing across the groin of Désirée Nosbusch (Simone).

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Connections

Featured in Eine Kannibalistische Lovestory (2014)

User Reviews

This one will definitely stay with you

A deranged teenage girl played by Desiree Nosbusch (who like many deranged females in movies is improbably hot) is obsessed with a bad German rock star named "R". She is alienated from her parents and seemingly has no friends, so she spends all her free time listening to "R"'s music and following his career. She attends a TV show he is taping at a nearby town. They meet and he decides that she is good for a quick shag. Unfortunately, she wants more from him--MUCH more--and she ends up doing something truly shocking.

This is a downbeat and pretty disturbing movie--it's not, however, especially believable. An incident kind of like this did actually happen in Germany recently (which was made all the more disturbing by the fact that the victim was apparently completely willing). But that bizarre case involved a middle-aged man--it's a little harder to believe a pretty teenage girl could be this warped (It's also kind of an ironic conceit that the stalkers in movies are often the kind of people--i.e. young, attractive, female--that in real life are far more like to be the stalk-ees). Nosbusch does give a pretty convincing performance, and this helps greatly. This first-time German actress would go on to a short career in cinema, including English-language films like "Good Morning, Babylon" (under the name Desiree Becker). She became more famous perhaps though as a singer and a presenter of the Eurovision contest (where she no doubt introduced musical acts even worse than that of the fictional "R").

This was a good movie, but unfortunately I got my copy via Britain where it was subject to some idiotic (even by their standards) censorship. To wit, Nosbusch's impressive butt and boobs are literally on display for about ten minutes here, but the Brit censors decided a brief full-frontal scene was apparently just too harmful to society. This cut reputedly doesn't make that much of a difference though (which is exactly why it is so STUPID). Anyway, I would recommend this, but if you have a choice try to get a version WITHOUT the checkered triangle with an 18 on it (the international symbol of the idiocy of the BBFC). In any case, much like "R" does with his obsessive young fan, this one will definitely stay with you.

Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

6 June 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Fan

Filming Locations:

Bavaria, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Barbara Moorse Workshop

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1