Focus on R.W. FASSBINDER II: Women in New York (1977)

The last of Fassbinder's filmed stage productions is wedged right between the films that thrust him into the world eye and those that he began producing with international funding. Its temper reflects this expanded stage, and its set dressing sees the director and his visual language in top form.

Women in New York, a TV version of Fassbinder’s staging of 'The Women' by Clare Boothe Luce for the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, is practically dripping with glamour, even more so than George Cukor's 1939 film adaptation. And with Fassbinder's troupe of actors firmly entrenched, even through the murky video transfer, it is clear that his women (Margrit Carstensen, Barbara Sukowa, Eva Mattes, Irm Hermann) can hold their own with Hollywood's greats (Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer and Rosalind Russell). At least in getting this director's take across.

The guts of Booth Luce's play remain intact - centring on the destruction of the marriage of a young New York socialite, Mary Haines, by a department store worker (with the help of Haines' circle of gossipy friends) - and as before the cast is made up entirely of women.

Compared to Cukor's adaptation, Fassbinder is broader. Where Cukor opts for the sentimental, Fassbinder goes hard at OTT melodramatic satire. Through there are moments of subtlety, much of the direction here tends towards shrill laughter and large eyes. Amidst the sumptuous sets, the women's exaggerations border on camp. In this, Fassbinder wears his contempt for the upper classes just a little too openly. While the cartoonish drama was playing out (and Fassbinder plays it in whip-fast vignettes), I couldn't help but feel the play would have been better served if he'd reeled it in a bit.

But there is smart observation buried in the production and Fassbinder explores them with a sharper wit than Cukor managed. There is something to be said for not being enraptured by the prevailing paradigms. Cukor's adaptation falls down because he (or the studio) was still committed to providing the audience with their high society porn. And though Fassbinder amps up the glamour, his brutish cynicism removes almost all the accompanying sheen.

The other notable aspect of the production is Michael Ballhaus' trademark camerawork, which dazzles with its ingenuity. Ballhaus make the most of Fassbinder's precise blocking and Rolf Glittenberg production design. At one stage, Fassbinder has Ballhaus shoot an entire scene through a pane of glass with rivulets of water streaming over the the outside surface and a cleaning woman silently wiping down the inside. Their shots capture the women's divorce-focussed melodrama in the background and the cleaning woman's incredulity in the fore. Sublime.

Women in New York, more than any other of Fassbinder's filmed plays, has me yearning for a decent transfer. It's more than obvious that these television productions aren't high on the restoration list, but if one were to find its way on, I'd certainly angle for this. Some of the shots here can stand with Fassbinder/Ballhaus' best and it would be wondrous to see them given a little bit of love. But I won't hold my breath.

Next up: Theatre in Trance...


This post contributes to Director Focus: Rainer Werner Fassbinder II.