542 - Berlin Alexanderplatz Part 3, Germany, 1980. Dir. Werner Rainer Fassbinder.
A Hammer Blow to the Head Can Injure the Soul
I believe in us, Franz. I believe in us all the way.
Lina says those words to Franz. The words you spend your whole life longing to hear someone say to you.
You think, If only someone, some day, would say those words to me. I believe in us.
So you decide maybe you should be the one to say those words to someone else. Maybe that is the secret.
So you look someone else in the eyes, and you say those words. I believe in us. I will never leave you.
And the other person leaves you anyway.
Have you been there?
Maybe Lina will have a better outcome.
Maybe things work out in the movies.
Lina has an uncle. Uncle Otto. Uncle Luders. Otto Luders. Maybe he can help them.
Franz and Lina visit Uncle Otto.
Otto tells them he has not had a job in two years. He writes for a political paper.
How does he get by?
He sells shoelaces.
Shoelaces!
Lina is filled with hope. Maybe Franz can sell shoelaces with Otto.
Otto accepts. They sell shoelaces together.
You take the left side and I'll take the right side, and I will meet the lady afore ye.
Otto allows Franz to choose which side of the large apartment complex he wishes to take.
And Lot lifted up his eyes, and behold all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere. . . . Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves from one another. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain.
Franz chooses right.
Otto goes left.
And that has made all the difference.
Choices. Sliding Doors. Forks in the road. Fate.
Franz knocks on a door to sell shoelaces, and the lady who answers thinks at first he is her husband. Her dead husband. She is a widow, and Franz looks a lot like him. She makes him an offer. He makes good money.
Franz is dumb enough to tell Otto later at lunch.
Otto goes back to the lady on his own. He wants to make money too. Without selling shoelaces. Without telling Franz.
Franz and Lina wait for Otto to return, but Otto does not return. Franz offers Lina a little afternoon delight but she declines. She reveals that he can be like the devil in those moments. He has put her out of the mood. But she still loves him.
Franz goes out again. To sell more shoelaces. He meets a boy who cannot let him in because his mother and grandmother are out, and he cannot talk to strangers. And a woman who does not need shoelaces because she wears buckled shoes.
And then--
Eva.
Yes, he knocks on a door and Eva answers. She is at a client's house.
Fassbinder and Schwarzenberger give Hanna Schygulla (as Eva) just as radiant an over-the-shoulder as they have given Elisabeth Trissenar (as Lina) a close-up. The soft light. The diffused light. The hair light. The catch light. The muted tones. The shading on the near side of the face down to the shoulders. And the stylist--who is not credited where we can see it--has given them similar hairstyles. We see Lina from her right side; Eva, from her left. Doppelgangers.
Eva stares into Franz's eyes. She offers to buy some shoelaces from him. Several pairs.
Regardless of what this man is doing wrongly, he is loved by these women.
Deeply.
Franz feels uncomfortable. He does not wish to sell to Eva. He has determined to go straight. To live right. He wants no trouble.
Remember Hans Epp (played by Hans Hirschmuller) in The Merchant of the Four Seasons (1972). He is selling pears with his wife Irmgard (Irm Hermann), when his ex (Ingrid Craven) calls him up to buy a pair.
https://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/02/045-merchant-of-four-seasons-1971.html
Neither man gives in to his ex.
Hans does not give in with the pears.
Franz does not sell the shoelaces.
Hans and Franz do, however, want to Pump You Up.
(Admit it. If I had not typed that line, you would have thought it. So I may as well have doe so.)
Our Franz goes to a floral shop. And in this brief scene we learn what is on Franz's mind and we discover so much of Fassbinder.
I have to buy some flowers, Miss. But I'm not quite sure what kind they should be. The thing is, they have to mean "The past keeps following you, driving you on and on, driving you some place where there is no future." Do you understand?
Yes. I understand you. What you need are carnations. White carnations, Sir.
White carnations? But they are flowers for death, aren't they?
Yes, Sir. But you asked for flowers for a death, didn't you.
Yes. She understands.
Franz returns to the widow. With red roses. He knocks on her door. Smiles. Anticipates. Teases that he is the mailman. She opens the door. Sees him. Slams the door shut. He is rejected.
Does he know that Otto stopped by?
He tries again. He speaks through the door. He needs his cases back. His shoelaces. His cases of shoelaces. She refuses to respond.
He tosses his roses on the floor. On the staircase. Steps on them. Crushes them. And loses his mind.
Later Lina goes home and finds Franz's things missing. She senses that he has left. Her scenes for the rest of the episode are heartbreakingly played.
It was all so wonderful, and you just ran away.
Did Otto have something to do with this?
She goes to Meck. Franz's friend. Meck befriends her. Helps her confront Otto.
Otto goes to a basement flophouse. Finds Franz. Franz is out of his mind. Franz runs Otto off.
Back at the bar Meck demands that Otto tell him. Otto tells him. Meck and Lina go to the basement flophouse.
Franz is gone.
Lina lies on his bed grieving.
The love.
The pain.
In the end Meck has lost his friend and Lina, her boyfriend.
They turn to each other for comfort.
They will grieve together.
They will have each other.
I have to buy some flowers, miss.dd " Do you understand? Yes, I understand you. What you need are carnations. White carnations, sir. -White carnations? But they're flowers for death, aren't they? Yes, sir. But you asked for flowers for a death, Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=berlin-alexanderplatz-1980&episode=s01e03
I have to buy some flowers, miss. But I'm not sure I'm not quite sure what kind they should be. The thing is, they have to mean: "The past keeps following you, driving you on and on, driving you someplace where there's no future. " Do you understand? Yes, I understand you. What you need are carnations. White carnations, sir. -White carnations? But they're flowers for death, aren't they? Yes, sir. But you asked for flowers for a death, Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=berlin-alexanderplatz-1980&episode=s01e0
* * * *
Little Lina Przybilla from Czernowitz.
What do people expect if they won't let a guy work?
That's how it is with a guy like me who's assaulted someone. You're always in the wrong.
My head's as stupid as it is empty.
"Through misfortune to fortune."
It's Better to Walk with a Friend. - E. Fischer.
Walking alone
With path of stone
With faltering tread
The heart afraid
It's better to walk with a friend
When you should fall
Who helps you stand?
And when you're tired
Who lends a hand?
It's better to walk with a friend
Quiet traveler, through time and tide
Let Christ our Savior be your guide
It's better to walk with a friend
He knows the path
He knows your need
He'll help you on with word and deed
It's better to walk with a friend
I've got something going with shoelaces.
Shoelaces. Why didn't I think of that?
Don't forget the times we're living in. How's a guy supposed to earn his money?
Even if I were to starve, I swore it. I swore I'd stay clean, that I'd never do anything illegal again, that I'd stay clean. I swore it, and I'm sticking to it, even if I starve.
I believe in us, Franz. I believe in us all the way.
Happy he who forgets
What can only cause regrets.
Once there was paradise divine.
The waters teemed with fish. Trees sprouted from the ground. And the animals played: the beasts of the earth, fish, and birds. There was a rustling in one of the trees: a serpent. A serpent, a serpent stretched out its head. A serpent lived in paradise, more cunning than all the other beasts of the field. And it began to speak, and spoke to Adam and Eve.
Don't want to force anyone. A person has to be free.
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