Alexander

Berlin Alexanderplatz - 1903

Reiner Werner Fassbinder's [1945-1982] 15+ hour Berlin Alexanderplatz is based on Alfred Döblin's novel from 1929. It was Rainer's crowning achievement when he was 34. He then already made about 40 films. The story follows the ex-convict Franz Biberkopf (Günter Lamprecht) as he attempts to "become an honest soul" amid the corrosive urban landscape of the Germany Weimar-Era (interbellum). With equal parts cynicism and humanity, Fassbinder details a portrait of a common man struggling to survive in an uncommon time.

The story of Franz Biberkopf is also about his relationships with Reinhold (Gottfried John) and Mieze (Barbara Sukova).

In Fassbinder's interpretation, Franz Biberkopf's accident is seen as self-mutilation. In his last movie, Querelle (1982), we will hear the confession: "To kiss a man is like the confrontation with one's own face in the mirror". As different as Alfred Döblin's "Alexanderplatz" and Jean Genet's "Querelle" may be, the two novels are alike because they meet one another like an object and its mirror image: the first novel deals with the good-guy Franz Biberkopf who is ruined by his love to humankind, and the other novel with the immoral murderer Querelle by which those who love him, perish.

Like many of Fassbinder's movies, "Berlin Alexanderplatz", too, shows clear autobiographical traces. Fassbinder said about the three protagonists Franz, Reinhold and Mieze: "All three together supply my chance to survive". As Fassbinder pointed out in his article "The cities of the human and his soul", unlike Döblin in his original novel, he is not so much interested in the discovery of the outer reality of Berlin, but concentrates on their inhabitants.

The story is a journey into the souls of different people under the conviction that the reign of subjectivity of the inner realities is much bigger than the reign of the objective reality outside. As a matter of fact (as has been pointed out by several commentators), "Berlin Alexanderplatz" with its almost 100 roles gave Fassbinder the possibility to let appear in his movie practically every person who had been crucial in his own life. That he split himself over three persons (Franz, Reinhold, Mieze) is very typical in Fassbinder's work in which many persons have their Alter Egos.

As Fassbinder had pointed out in an interview: "Despair is the only condition of life that I can accept". Consistently, the movie shows the systematic destruction of Franz, since "he is an anarchical figure in a crowd of social beings, and in the end, he perishes because of that".

In fifteen and half an hour, we can analyze "the constellations, how a human spoils his life by a certain incapability which he developed by his upbringing" (Fassbinder). The movie shows the shaping of Franz Biberkopf to a mentally destroyed but therefore useful member of society.

Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 01 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 01 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 01 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 01 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 01 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 01 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 01 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 01 part 08
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 01 part 09
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 01 part 10
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 01 part 11
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Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 02 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 02 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 02 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 02 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 02 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 02 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 02 part 07/
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 02 part 08
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Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 03 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 03 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 03 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 03 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 03 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 03 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 03 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 03 part 08
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Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 04 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 04 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 04 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 04 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 04 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 04 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 04 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 04 part 08
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Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 05 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 05 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 05 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 05 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 05 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 05 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 05 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 05 part 08
[psw = nafiz, about 8x100MB.]

Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 06 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 06 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 06 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 06 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 06 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 06 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 06 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 06 part 08
[psw = nafiz, about 8x100MB.]

Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 07 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 07 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 07 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 07 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 07 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 07 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 07 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 07 part 08
[psw = nafiz, about 8x100MB.]

Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 08 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 08 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 08 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 08 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 08 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 08 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 08 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 08 part 08
[psw = nafiz, about 8x100MB.]

Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 09 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 09 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 09 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 09 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 09 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 09 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 09 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 09 part 08
[psw = nafiz, about 8x100MB.]

Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 10 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 10 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 10 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 10 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 10 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 10 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 10 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 10 part 08
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 10 part 09
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Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 11 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 11 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 11 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 11 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 11 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 11 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 11 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 11 part 08
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 11 part 09
[psw = nafiz, about 9x100MB.]

Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 12 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 12 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 12 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 12 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 12 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 12 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 12 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 12 part 08
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 12 part 09
[psw = nafiz, about 9x100MB.]

Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 13 part 01
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 13 part 02
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 13 part 03
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 13 part 04
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 13 part 05
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 13 part 06
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 13 part 07
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 13 part 08
Berlin Alexanderplatz - episode 13 part 09
[psw = nafiz, about 9x100MB.]

The Epilog [part 14] is not availabable, because of a corrupt file.
I will look into that in the near future; sorry folks.


Enjoy