Fassbinder puts the two struggles in the film (against the world; against fear that the world has left inside these two) into his camera. His frame makes big, lyrical gestures to show tension either released (Emmie’s crying jag at the cafe) or transcended (the joyous newlywed walk). But the image gets stock still whenever tensions accumulate with no sign of release. He dumps it all on his characters, whose quiet implosions we’re forced to bear head-on.

I wonder who’s taken up the Sirk/Fassbinder torch nowadays…? (I’ve seen Francois Ozon’s turn at Fassbinder and Todd Haynes’s renditon of Sirk, but they’re both a bit too “smart” and calculating to reach their idols’ heights and depths.)