Friday, November 18, 2005

Fear of Fear

After watching a couple of duds from Fassbinder, this was a welcome, if not entirely successful relief. It focuses on a young, middle class housewife who seems to be losing her mind around the time she is to have her second child. Soon, her sanity begins to deteriorate as she finds herself becoming addicted to Valium and alcohol. The most troubling thing is that no one around seems to even notice. Her husband, and mother and sister (who live in the same apartment complex) are all too self-involved to even notice that she needs help (and even if they did, they probably wouldn't do anything but tell her to shape up). She is frightened -- crippled by fear. Fear of fear. This is vintage Fassbinder material, and he almost pulls it off. Unfortunately the idea of the film is better than the film itself. Still though, it could have been much, much worse.

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