Berlin Alexanderplatz
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s controversial, fifteen-hour Berlin Alexanderplatz, based on Alfred Döblin’s great modernist novel, was the crowning achievement of a prolific director who, at age thirty-four, had already made over thirty films. Fassbinder’s immersive epic follows the hulking, childlike ex-convict Franz Biberkopf (Günter Lamprecht) as he attempts to “become an honest soul” 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.
Berlin Alexanderplatz was shot at a speed of 25 frames per second. Due to technical discrepancies between PAL and NTSC standards, the film is presented on the DVD edition at a slightly slower speed. On the Blu-ray edition, however, it was possible to present the film at its original speed. This accounts for the difference in run time between the two editions.
Special Features
- High-definition digital restoration by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation and Bavaria Media, supervised and approved by director of photography Xaver Schwarzenberger, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Two documentaries by Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation president Juliane Lorenz: one from 2007 featuring interviews with the cast and crew, the other from 2006 on the restoration
- Hans-Dieter Hartl’s 1980 documentary Notes on the Making of “Berlin Alexanderplatz”
- Phil Jutzi’s 1931 feature-length film of Alfred Döblin’s novel, from a screenplay cowritten by Döblin himself
- Interview from 2007 with Peter Jelavich, author of “Berlin Alexanderplatz”: Radio, Film, and the Death of Weimar Culture
- PLUS: An essay by filmmaker Tom Tykwer, reflections on the novel by Fassbinder and author Thomas Steinfeld, and an interview with Schwarzenberger
Cover by Eric Skillman
Special Features
- High-definition digital restoration by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation and Bavaria Media, supervised and approved by director of photography Xaver Schwarzenberger, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Two documentaries by Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation president Juliane Lorenz: one from 2007 featuring interviews with the cast and crew, the other from 2006 on the restoration
- Hans-Dieter Hartl’s 1980 documentary Notes on the Making of “Berlin Alexanderplatz”
- Phil Jutzi’s 1931 feature-length film of Alfred Döblin’s novel, from a screenplay cowritten by Döblin himself
- Interview from 2007 with Peter Jelavich, author of “Berlin Alexanderplatz”: Radio, Film, and the Death of Weimar Culture
- PLUS: An essay by filmmaker Tom Tykwer, reflections on the novel by Fassbinder and author Thomas Steinfeld, and an interview with Schwarzenberger
Cover by Eric Skillman
Cast
- Günter Lamprecht
- Franz Biberkopf
- Gottfried John
- Reinhold Hoffmann
- Barbara Sukowa
- Emilie "Mieze" Karsunke
- Hanna Schygulla
- Eva
- Karin Baal
- Minna
- Annemarie Düringer
- Cilly
- Elisabeth Trissenaar
- Lina
- Helen Vita
- Fränze
- Barbara Valentin
- Ida
- Brigitte Mira
- Frau Bast
- Roger Fritz
- Herbert
- Ivan Desny
- Pums
- Buchrieser Franz
- Gottfried Meck
- Hark Bohm
- Otto Lüders
- Gerhard Zwerenz
- Baumann
- Peter Kollek
- Nachum
- Volker Spengler
- Bruno
Credits
- Director
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Written by
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- From the novel by
- Alfred Döblin
- Cinematography by
- Xaver Schwarzenberger
- Music by
- Peer Raben
- Costumes by
- Barbara Baum
- Edited by
- Juliane Lorenz
- Edited by
- Walsch (Fassbinder) Franz
- Produced by
- Peter Märthesheimer
A scene from Berlin Alexanderplatz
