Lili Marleen (1981)

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Lale Andersen (novel)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (additional dialogue)

Release Date:

14 January 1981 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In Switzerland German singer 'Wilkie' falls in love with Jewish composer 'Robert' who offers resistance to the Nazis by helping refugees...

Plot Keywords:

Resistance Movement | Jewish | Poland | Nazi | WWII

Cast

Hanna Schygulla	...	Willie
Giancarlo Giannini	...	Robert
Mel Ferrer	...	David Mendelsson
Karl-Heinz von Hassel	...	Henkel (as Karl Heinz von Hassel)
Erik Schumann	...	von Strehlow
Hark Bohm	...	Taschner
Gottfried John	...	Aaron
Karin Baal	...	Anna Lederer
Christine Kaufmann	...	Miriam
Udo Kier	...	Drewitz
Roger Fritz	...	Kauffmann
Rainer Will	...	Bernt
Raúl Gimenez	...	Blonsky (as Raul Giminez)
Adrian Hoven	...	Ginsberg
Willy Harlander	...	Prosel

Runtime:

120 min | Brazil:111 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 | Singapore:R(A) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)

Trivia:

Shot in English for American distribution; later dubbed in German

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The German officer, Kaufmann, who arrests Robert on the train wears the uniform of an SS-Gruppenfuhrer (General) - it is highly unlikely that an SS General of such rank would be checking identity papers at random on a train.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Lilli Marlene (1950)

Daring for the Eighties, boring today

I am terribly sorry, I know that Faßbinder still is called one of the greatest directors in post-war Germany and that most of his films are considered "master-pieces", but when I see "Lili Marleen" today, in 2004, I wonder what everyone is up and away about this movie! The acting is simply terrible - Hanna Schygulla is all the smiling like an idiot! -, the changings between Nazi-glamour and battlefields are ridiculous, the whole film looks as if it was made within two days in an attic. Probably it was exactly that way and many people seem to take this for "real art", but for me this movie is simply bad & cheap. Compare this to Viscontis "La Caduta degli Dei" and tell me again that "Lili Marleen" is a good movie...