ABSTRACT
During his short life – he died aged thirty-
seven – Fassbinder was exceptionally prolific,
completing thirty-five full-length feature
films, at the same time as making a substantial
body of work for television, writing for and
directing on the live stage, producing several
films for other directors, and acting in about
forty films, his own and other people’s. He
was probably the most prominent figure in
that generation of directors, which also
includedWerner Herzog and WimWenders,
who brought West German cinema out of its
post-war doldrums into the forefront of
European and world cinema in the 1970s.
If, given the frantic pace of production,
inevitably not all his work is of the highest
standard, a remarkably high proportion is;
and amongst it are to be found several
undoubted masterpieces. Although, as an
acclaimed auteur, he attracts intellectuals as
the principal international audience for his
films, much of his work was aimed at a more
popular audience as well. A great admirer of
Hollywood at the technical and stylistic level
but with a tough and unsentimental vision
informed by his leftist politics, his avowed
aim was to make ‘Hollywood movies, but
not as hypocritical’.
