Rainer Werner Fassbinderâs fifteen-hour Berlin Alexanderplatz, based on Alfred Döblinâs great modernist novel, was the crowning achievement of a prolific director who, at age thirty-four, had already made over thirty films. Fassbinderâs immersive epic follows the hulking, childlike ex-convict Franz Biberkopf (Günter Lamprecht) as he attempts to âbecome an honest soulâ amid the corrosive urban landscape of Weimar-era Germany. With equal parts cynicism and humanity, Fassbinder details a mammoth portrait of a common man struggling to survive in a viciously uncommon time.
Supplements
Two new documentaries by Fassbinder Foundation president Juliane Lorenz: one featuring interviews with the cast and crew, the other on the restoration
Hans-Dieter Hartlâs 1980 documentary Notes on the Making of âBerlin Alexanderplatzâ
Phil Jutziâs 1931, ninety-minute film of Alfred Döblinâs novel, from a screenplay co-written by Döblin himself
New video interview with Peter Jelavich, author of Berlin Alexanderplatz: Radio, Film, and the Death of Weimar Culture
A book featuring an essay by filmmaker Tom Tykwer, reflections from Fassbinder, an interview with Xaver Schwarzenberger, and German author Thomas Steinfeld on the novel