Lola **** (1981, Barbara Sukowa, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Mario Adorf) – Classic Movie Review 6188

Barbara Sukowa stars as the Fifties scheming bordello singer Lola, who gets her claws into an upright politician (Armin Mueller-Stahl), in one of German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s most ambitious, imaginative, accessible and successful films. Sukowa and Mueller-Stahl give superb performances in ambitiously written, satisfying roles. It is the middle part of Fassbinder’s trilogy, following The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) and preceding Veronika Voss (1982).

Mueller-Stahl plays a town’s new building commissioner Herr Von Bohm, who unwittingly falls for brothel worker Lola, the paid-for mistress of the corrupt property developer Schuckert (Mario Adorf), who profits from Von Bohm’s projects.

The sharply told story in the screenplay by Fassbinder, Peter Maertesheimer and Pea Froelich, the dazzling visuals from cinematographer Xaver Schwarzenberger, and the classy acting from an impressive ensemble drive along Fassbinder’s usual sexual provocations and his attack on the corruption in Fifties Germany.

Also in the cast are Matthias Fuchs, Helga Feddersen, Karin Baal, Ivan Desny, Karl-Heinz von Hassel, Sonja Neudorfer, Elisabeth Volkmann, Hark Bohm, Rosel Zech, Isolde Barth, Christine Kaufmann, Y Sa Lo, Karsten Peters, Nino Korda, Raul Gimenez, Udo Keir, Günther Kaufmann and Harry Baer.

It is produced by Horst Wendlandt and scored by Peer Raben, with production designs by Rolf Zehetbauer.

Lola was released in Germany on 20 August 1981 and on 4 August 1982 in the United States.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6188

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