Veronika Voss (1982)

A washed up UFA actress, kept by her doctor, raises suspicion in a sports journalist.

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pea Fröhlich

Stars:

Rosel Zech, Hilmar Thate, Cornelia Froboess

4 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rosel Zech	...	Veronika Voss
Hilmar Thate	...	Robert Krohn
Cornelia Froboess	...	Henriette
Annemarie Düringer	...	Dr. Marianne Katz
Doris Schade	...	Josefa
Erik Schumann	...	Dr. Edel
Peter Berling	...	Filmproduzent / Dicker Mann
Günther Kaufmann	...	G.I. / Dealer (as Günter Kaufmann)
Sonja Neudorfer	...	Verkäuferin
Lilo Pempeit	...	Chehm
Volker Spengler	...	1. Regisseur
Herbert Steinmetz	...	Gärtner
Elisabeth Volkmann	...	Grete
Hans Wyprächtiger	...	Chefredakteur
Peter Zadek	...	2. Regisseur

Storyline

Munich, 1955: A sports journalist meets Veronika Voss, an UFA actress who supposedly had an affair with Goebbels. Now declining, Voss is kept by her "kind" doctor, Dr. Katz, supplying her house, food, clean clothes and her favourite: morphine. Voss, trying to come back towards the cinema, cannot perform an absurdly simple scene, but it attracts the attention of the journalist, who suspects that something's very wrong regarding her doctor.

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Plot Keywords:

washed up star | actress | morphine | drugs | new german cinema | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German English

Release Date:

13 May 1982 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

Veronika Voss

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Studios, Bavariafilmplatz 7, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

DEM2,600,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,623, 16 February 2003

Gross USA:

$8,144

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,144

Company Credits

Production Co:

Laura Film, Tango Film, Rialto Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film takes place in 1955.

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Goofs

The film is set in 1955 but the song "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton, released in 1959, is heard on the radio a number of times.

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Quotes

Grete: You'd make a good pair - at the bar.
Robert Krohn: You mean she drinks?
Grete: All actors drink. And when they don't have any work, they hit the bottle. It's the law of nature. Her marriage is finished, too.
Robert Krohn: Is that true or just gossip?
Grete: Another law of nature, my boy: the gossip you hear about an actor is always true.

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Connections

Referenced in False Eyelash (1982)

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Soundtracks

Run, boy run
Written by Lee Hazlewood
Performed by Sanford Clark

User Reviews

A melancholy tribute to the black and white films of the past

Rosel Zech, who from some angles reminds us of Marlene Dietrich or Delphine Seyrig, plays Veronika Voss, a fading German movie star whose story is a European take on Sunset Boulevard. The film uses black and white photography to create effects of light, shadow, and pure luminosity that work brilliantly such as the opening scene in the tramway car, or the interior of the Dr. Katz's clinic. The scene where Veronika sings Memories Are Made Of This in a low husky voice that recalls Dietrich at her world weary best caps it all off perfectly.