This immaculately staged drama, a loose remake of Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows, is Fassbinder’s assault on the intolerance of 1970s German society. An older woman, played by the incomparable Brigitte Mira, and a younger Moroccan man (El Hedi ben Salem) fall in love and marry, revealing an ugly mess of prejudice and hatred beneath the polite veneer of their Munich neighbourhood. The performances are flawless; the themes remain timely. This searing 1974 melodrama gets a limited re-release as part of a two-month Fassbinder season at London’s BFI Southbank. It’s also currently showing on Mubi.com.
