After the brilliance of Martha, Fear of Fear not only sees Fassbinder examining (once again) the interior and exterior dynamics of society's most bourgeois of institutions, marriage, it also sees him doing it with Margit Carstensen in the under-foot central role.
Sure, there are tweaks here and there. Fear of Fear's Margot (!!!) is far more paranoid in execution. Her fear that she is going crazy is more easily read as an invisible external pressure (let's call it heteronormative society) rather than the actual physical and psychological abuse of the previous year's effort. The domination is still put about by those around her, most notably from her in-laws (a pair of creepy performances from Brigitte Mira and Irm Hermann - and you know how creepy Irm can be).
In many respects, this disembodiment makes Fear of Fear a more powerful experience. It is certainly more enigmatic, Kurt Raab's itinerant in-the-know stranger makes sure of that. His burden-sharing glances add to the unsettled tone of the film - the something-isn't-quite-rightedness, if you will (admittedly it is not as easy to amalgamate words in English as it is in German).
Margot's acting out against the invisible oppression, through pills, personal time and gentleman companions, is the perfect antidote to the tut-tutting controllers but only digs her deeper into her rebellious hole. It is a hole that she, being buried in, interprets as impending madness.
Thankfully, Fassbinder gives us, his audience, a clearer view. Not that that stops us from getting swallowed in exactly the same malaise. Maybe (hopefully) it inoculates us a touch.
Next up: Satansbraten...
This post contributes to Director Focus: Rainer Werner Fassbinder II.
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