Chinese Roulette [Chinesisches Roulette] *** (1976, Anna Karina, Margit Carstensen, Brigitte Mira, Macha Méril, Ulli Lommel, Volker Spengler) – Classic Movie Review 6202

The bleak 1976 West German psychological drama film Chinese Roulette [Chinesisches Roulette] is written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. It stars actors from Fassbinder’s regular ensemble – Margit Carstensen, Brigitte Mira, Volker Spengler and Ulli Lommel –  plus (because it is a French co-production) iconic French stars Anna Karina and Macha Méril, who had appeared in Jean-Luc Godard’s films.

This less well-known 1976 film from writer-producer-director Rainer Werner Fassbinder is a compelling but glacial Ingmar Bergman-style ensemble melodrama. It was Fassbinder’s first international co-production and then his most expensive film.

Andrea Schober plays the bitter disabled Angela Christ, a teenager who walks with crutches, who gets her rich parents (Margit Carstensen, Alexander Allerson) and their extra-marital affair lovers unexpectedly together in the family’s county house, Traunitz castle. There they embark on a dangerous guessing game charade of Chinese roulette after Angela and her mute companion Traunitz (Macha Méril) arrive on the scene, also unexpectedly.

The film is stylish, fascinating and intriguingly played by a classy cast. However, it is arty and elusive, so it is aimed mainly at Fassbinder’s hardcore audience.

Fassbinder’s screenplay, tinged with cruelty, is surely under the influence of Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) and Alain Renais’s Last Year at Marienbad, and, with this talent involved, no worse for that.

Also in the cast are Ulli Lommel, Anna Karina, Brigitte Mira and Volker Spengler.

Chinese Roulette [Chinesisches Roulette] is directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, runs 86 minutes, is made by Michael Fengler’s Albatros Production, Les Films du Losange and Tango Films, is written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, is shot in Eastmancolor by cinematographer Michael Balhaus, is produced by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and scored by Peer Raben.

It was shot in seven weeks between April and June 1976.

The location for the country house is a small castle at Stöckach in Unterfranken owned by Michael Ballhaus.

Fassbinder previously cast Andrea Schober in The Merchant of Four Seasons (1972) in a similar role as observer of her parents’ infidelities.

The cast are Anna Karina as Irene Cartis, Margit Carstensen as Ariane Christ, Brigitte Mira as Kast, Ulli Lommel as Kolbe, Alexander Allerson as Gerhard Christ, Volker Spengler as Gabriel Kast, Andrea Schober as Angela Christ, and Macha Méril as Traunitz.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6202

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com