Fassbinder's film is a partial remake of Douglas Sirk's 1955 melodrama All That Heaven Allows, a film in fact remade again by Todd Haynes in 2002 as Far From Heaven, starring Julianne Moore. I'll talk about all three films in class, but if you're interested in pursuing this interesting web of connections, Haynes' film is readily available at most video stores. If you have the will and the time over the weekend, you might want to watch it. See you Tuesday,
j.
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The shot that moved me in this particular movie was; the shot of Ali sleeping in the bartender's bed. (The bartender's name escapes me). This shot was: a dimmly lit, still close up of Ali, towards the end of the movie. The point of this shot was to show Ali doing something wrong. Ali's 'people' are labelled as pigs with only women on their minds. So that fact that Ali is sleeping in another woman's bed emphasizes this stereo type. However this shot is taken later in the movie. Thus the viewer has established Ali as a kind and real person. Therefore Ali is perceived as a conflicted husband not just a man stereo typed as a 'pig'. Also this shot convey's Ali's choice, choose love and hardship or except lonelyness and easyness.
Also I'd like to point out the triangle between Emmi, Ali and the bartender (just to point out one). As well there is another brunette vs. Blonde (Emmi vs. Bartender). Chalk another one up for the brunettes.
Andrew Kleysen
The shot that moved me most was when Emmi was leaving the grocer's after having been kicked out for defending her new husband. She is shown from across the street, with the door of her home forming two vertical panels on either side of her.
The effect was claustrophobic, showing how her world was closing in on her because of her decision to marry. She honestly believed (hoped?) that her love for Ali would make everyone else accept him, and to see that they were more willing to cast her out than to bring him in was a horrible, isolating revelation.
The agent of constraint was the entryway of her own home. This reinforced the implication that her domestic situation had caused her expulsion.
One shot that I found interesting was more at the beginning of the movie when Emmi is at work and her and her three other co-workers are sitting on the steps of the building during their lunch break. The four women are chatting about German women marrying Turkish men. One of the ladies was behind Emmi, and it is interesting because although she is talking, the shot is focused on Emmi, and the woman speaking is actually blurred out. She appears on the left of Emmi, right side of the frame in the background. To me, this blurred affect, and the focus on Emmi’s frightened face, gives the effect that this woman is somewhat like a conscious. It reminds me of the devil versus angel imagery that’s often portrayed when an individual has a very conflicting decision to make in their life.
Another shot that stirred up some emotions for me was the shot that happened just after Emmi told her children that Ali was her new husband. The shot consists of Emmi’s daughter and her husband, and Emmi’s two sons, all sitting around a table. The shot contains the four of them in silence and shock. No one says anything, but the three kids just slowly hang their heads down low. It was different because the basis of this shot is very real, people can be very racist and prejudice, but at the same time there is a little bit of comedy in the shot. I think this scene got the most laughs in the room than anything other scene/shot in the movie. The shock expressions portrayed were somewhat comical, but at the same time, the story behind those shocked expressions are all too real, and not at all funny. Basically, this shot brought up two very contrasting emotions; is it supposed to be funny, and is it ok to laugh? Or is this possibly the most serious shot in the movie?
The shot that stood out for me in Fassbinder’s “Ali: Fear Eats the Soul” was the shot of Ali and Emmi in the fancy restaurant just after getting married. The shot is a long shot of Ali and Emmi sitting side by side at a table, facing the camera. The shot is very simple: basic lighting, no camera movement, and no sound, which greatly emphasizes the characters. There is a sense of tension and an awkward silence throughout this shot. We can tell by the characters’ silence as well as their stiff positions that they are uncomfortable. Their behaviour suggests that they are possibly regretting their impulsive decision to get married. Reality sets in and they realize that they didn’t consider the consequences of their marriage. It was exhilarating to impulsively get married and to dine on an expensive meal, but now the characters realize just how alone they will be in the world, trying to fight prejudice in a society that is not accepting.
The most striking shot for me in the film was the closing shot for the scene at the patio restaurant. Emmi is just finishing explaining her spontaneous plan to go on a vacation where no one will know them and stare at them. The whole scene is filmed outside; it’s a beautiful set filled with colour. Birds can be heard in the background and it looks like it had just finished raining. It’s damp and cold; very akin to how the restaurant workers treat Emmi and Ali.
I liked how the camera begins to pull out and move away from the couple after she stops talking. She ends talking desperately about how to fix their social persecution and by having the camera pull away from them; it makes them look more insignificant. It shows how truly alone they are in this matter.
The shot that moved me the most in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Ali: Fear Eats The Soul" is the shot at the beginning of the film when Emmi first walks into the bar and sits down. The bartender, Ali, his friends, and other patrons all stop what they're doing and simply stare at Emmi. This shot shows how alienated Emmi is from everyone else, even at the beginning of the story, and foreshadows her further alienation from her co workers and children. As mentioned before, this is another classic brunette vs. blonde triangle.
There were a couple shots that i found interesting in this film. first i will say that i really enjoyed the movie. Although at the begining i was a litle skepticle, and kind of wierded out to be honest, i ended up really enjoying the taboo relationship between Ali and Emmie. The first shot i enjoyed was when Ali and Emmie dance for the first time at the bar. It must have been one of the most awkward dances ive ever seen which in my mind defines the relationship between the two. The other shot i enjoyed was when Ali and Emmie are eating at the italian restraunt. Agian, they seem very awkward as they are sitting on the same side of the table, staring blankly as they await there meals.
I’m not exactly sure why, but I had a tough time choosing one shot in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. There is, however, this really great scene where Emmi is introducing Ali to her family, which garners in a less that pleasant result. I really love the way the camera pans across the families expressions of utter repulsion. Judging from the reaction of the rest of the class, it seems that I am not the only one who enjoyed this shot.
In lieu of one particular shot, something that stands out far more to me is the numerous uses of shots through things like windows and doors. I think the director is trying to give the audience the sense that Ali and Emmi’s privacy is being intruded upon. It gave me the feeling that I was looking in on them in some unscrupulous manner.
The shot that I enjoyed the most would have to be the one where they first show the scene where Ali and Emmi are sitting in the outdoor restaurant. It is one of the few long shots in the film that I remember, and it really emphasized to me just how alone the two of them really are, how they are the only ones they know of in their situation, and are not accepted by the rest of the world.
The shot that moved me the most in this film was the shot of Ali waiting outside of Emmi's apartment as she is walking towards him. The reason that this shot stood out for me was because of how it resembled a still photograph. It resembles a photograph because there is very little movement in the shot. There were many shots in this movie where there was little or no movement resembling paintings or photos, another example would be when Ali and Emmi were eating lunch in the rain with the yellow umbrellas. Another reason this shot moved me was the use of depth by the director, Ali is leaning against the car in the foreground as Emmi is walking towards him from the background. Also through the diegetic use of the clock tolling in the background the director informs the audience that Ali had been waiting for Emmi a long time similar to how she waited for him in the bar.
The shot of Emmi and Ali sitting outside a restaurant patio was the shot that moved me. This shot was so moving because there was no movement or any sounds (except birds) during this one particular shot. The camera is somewhat positioned at an extreme shot, where Emmi and Ali are hardly noticeable at first glance. The shot is composed of three dominate colors which are green, yellow, and white/grey. In my opinion the shot tried to display Emmi and Ali being better off in a desolate environment, where they can escape from the cruel world. At first glance I thought that Emmi and Ali actually got away from the cruel society, but it wasn’t the case when the next shot appeared on screen. I’ve also noticed the still shots used throughout the film, which makes you really concentrate what the situation is.
This movie was not what I was expecting at all, completely different than anything I've seen. I thought a lot of the shots were really unique and did a good job sort of setting the mood. One thing that really stood out to me was how many of the shots of people linger on them after something has happened.To me, it felt like it was just t little too long, creating the perfect sensation of the characters emotions.That blank stare, the look of shock and hurt, really illustrate that feeling that all of us know in the pit of our stomachs.
A different shot that I like was one taken from a low angle. It's a tracking pan shot (? ) that moves diagonally, following Ali and Emmi up the stairs. The shot is a little out of the ordinary in a movie full of pretty eye level shots, much like the situation of Emmi bringing him home is an odd occasion. I found myself thinking, "Is this actually happening."
I really enjoyed this movie and felt like it had a lot of meaning, especially under the surface.
A shot that I found interesting, and stood out due to its resemblance to a still photograph, was the extreme long shot in the restaurant where Emmi and Ali sit at the dining room table facing the camera. They sit side-by-side, perfectly still and in silence, after having awkwardly placed their orders for the waiter. Although Emmi is content over being married and at the restaurant with Ali, the silence and emptiness of the restaurant, along with the uncomfortable stares from the waiter in the previous shots,emphasize the fact that they are not accepted or respected as a couple in public, casting a veil of melancholy over the shot. It gives us the idea that they are still in their own personal "world", where negative feelings and opinions of others don't mean anything or affect them in any way.
I found this movie was very special from the previous movies because of the way how the camera framed the shots. There were many perticular shots that had been taken in a certain frame which was being constructed by some objects. For example, when Ali has his first dinner in Emmi's home, the camera sits in the middle of the hall way and shows the wall beside the door. The wall constructs a little frame that Ali and Emmi are having conversation in it. There is another shot is being taken from the grocery store to the street. The curtain and bottles construct another frame that shows the buildings and street.
The shot that moved me the most was an exteme long shot of Ali standing in front of a bed in the bartender's home and he takes his cloth off and waits for her to sleep with him. The light goes very strong at the beginning of the shot, but it turns off after the bartender gets out from the bath room. There is only a spot light comes from the left side of the frame and it creats a beautiful shadow of their naked bodies. We can only observe the shape this two human figures. The significant change of the lighting from brigt to dark gives a sort of moving element in a solid shot.
In Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul", the use of the mirror in two shots which helps establish a major facet of the movie. In the beginning of the movie, Ali is taking shower and his naked image is captured through a mirror in a shot combined with a point of view editing shot of Emmi. This is to establish a fact that he is nice and beautiful only from the point of view of Emmi. Others may have a completely different opinion about him. Symbolically, Ali is alone in his own world (in the mirror), hence is reflected in the mirror naked. Emmi perceives him in his own world as what he really is (looking thorough the same mirror). Later in the end of the movie, Ali is sick lying on the bed in the hospital, his mirror-image is shown and Emmi enters the frame. This shot is followed by a point of view shot of Emmi and the doctor. Even in this shot, Ali is still nice for Emmi, but the doctor has a conventional opinion about him as a foreigner which is already an established fact demonstrated by all others. Symbolically, Emmi has already entered Ali’s world. Now they are both alone in their own world (in the mirror). And the point of view is omniscient now (that is, Ali and Emmi both are seen from doctor’s point of view which is the point of view of all others).
In Fassbinder’s Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, the shot that stood out to me was when Ali, and Emmi were sitting in the park full of yellow chairs and tables. It starts off with a long shot with Ali and Emmi sitting alone in a sea of yellow. It then goes to a medium shot of Ali. Ali is in the foreground with a group of people staring at them in the background. It then goes to Emmi, as her and Ali are having a conversation. Then it has a long shot of just the group of people staring at Ali and Emmi. After it proceeds into a long shot of the 2 sitting alone and talking, then pans from the long shot to Ali. Once Ali says a sentence it has an over the shoulder shot showing Emmi’s emotions and how she’s stuck in the middle of being so happy yet she can’t bare the alienation anymore. The composition of how objects and people were placed and the use of bright yellow is what made it stick out for me.
The shot that moved was the one where Ali and Emmi are having breakfast, after he spent the night for the first time at her house. The camera captures their first moment of intimacy through the half opened door. The simple choice of angle and place, where the camera would capture the characters, was enough to invite the viewers to get to to know, and try to understand the development of this brand new relationship.
A striking visual contrast from the rest of the film, the shot that stood out for me was the same one Alex mentioned: the outdoor scene when they are on the patio, discussing that they were going to go on a vacation to escape the judgement.
This particular shot stands out because of the colours, mainly; while the rest of the film is very dull, (aside from Emmi's outfits, etc.) the bright yellow patio, and the bright green verdure is lush after rain. The colours take up a large portion of the screen and frame both characters.
This is interesting because of how it juxtaposes their topic of conversation, (their woes of being isolated by their community) but foreshadows better times to come.
the shot that i found very interesting in "ali: fear eats the soul" was the first time Emmi introducing Ali to her family,just like the rest of the film, Rainer used a long period of slience which for me creats a great sence of humor。
there are couple more shots i found visualliy very interesting such as a extrme long shot of Emmi and Ali sitting around those yellow tables and at the little restraunt where Hitler used to dinne in.
The shot that moved me will be the shot at the restaurant after they got married. The shot was so moving that they were focused in the center of attention by placing them directly in the center of the door opening with an extreme long shot view. The restaurant had a colorful background and both of them wore gray colored suits and shirts, which added more to the contrast that would make them more stand out.
That shot moved me because it just shows their first time ordering in a fancy restaurant and she almost ordered a rare steak! haha. The restaurant was actually ironical since she wants to go in there because of hitler but as we all know what hitler stands for and "them" is not a very good example.
The shot of Ali and Emmi sitting side by side in the restaurant after they got married stood out to me the most. At this shot we see that they are infact alone in the restaurant again emphasizing the alienation that they feel from everyone else. The shot through the doorway is another thing to add as that type of shot seems to repeat several times in the film, giving off a feeling of being closed in and being watched very carefully by everyone else around them.
The shot that moved me was the last bar shot where Ali and friends are gambling. Emmi walks in and sit down at her usual spot. The director used a long shot to capture and define the distance between Emmi and the group of Arabs. Most importantly the relationship between Ali. Director position Emmi near the door in the top centre of the frame and Ali at the right bottom. They have the focus more on Ali. The waitress takes Emmi order. And Ali continues to gamble. Both main characters are wearing their wedding suits. The color of the suits does add on attention to Emmi and Ali. Emmi requested their song that they first dance too in the beginning of the movie. As Ali walks over to Emmi the gap between disappears. I thought this was very beautifully captured and represented because you can't see Ali's emotion when Emmi walked in and sat down. The hint was given when Ali walked over and ask Emmi for a dance. I think this was a very strong and powerful scene. Like that famous quote "it takes two to tango" same with their love and relationship.
The shot that moved me was found in the Italian restaurant. They are seen in an extreme long shot, sitting down for dinner. The two of them framed directly in the centre of the door frame under a predominant source of light. The waiter is seen on the left side of the door frame standing patiently and motionless beside the green curtain. While green is commonly a calming color the opposite can be said about this shot which made me uneasy and almost nervous. No sound is found in this shot, a very fitting concept to portray the struggling emotions they will come to terms with, and the realization that this isn't your average story book marriage. The extreme long-shot gives this same effect but also makes them feel small in a world that against there love.
The shot I found interesting was when Emmi was at work and she was sitting on the staircase like she normally had done, but this time all her co-workers were squished into one of the windowsills. They would normally never sit like this, but since they could out she was married to Ali, they were ignoring her, just as everyone else had done. I find this funny because they are not sitting very far from Emmi, it seems as though they are in that spot just to let her know that they are ignoring her. If I were to ignore someone, I would not sit right by them, I would probably sit far away. I also noticed that when ever the ladies were on the stairs the camera would pan over to a window, adding another frame within the frame. In this case Emmi was in the frame and it helped to show her emotions, sad and left-out.
The shot that moved me was when Ali and Emmi are sitting in the patio of a restaurant. We first get a long shot of them sitting alone surrounded by all this yellow chairs with no one around, the bright colors and the peacefulness of the shot gives us the idea that they are all alone in the world but they are happy, but then it cuts into a shot were we can see Ali and some other people in the background just staring at them, isolating them. Emmi then says that they are just jealous, but she has to explain what does jealous means to Ali, maybe by asking what does jealous mean it shows how he ignores why people always stare at them and don't threat them well, while Emmi who is the one explaining what it is, she's always being bothered by other people.
thinfiOne thing I noticed was that this film used a lot of neutral shots. I mean neutral in that for most of film the framing of the shots did not really use any camera angles or positions that would intone any kind of extra emotion or underlying theme to the shot. Most of the shots were medium shots and the camera was placed at eye level. It felt that Fassbinder intended the audience to be impartial viewers of the action, rather than give them prompts. As a result of the framing of the shots it felt almost like I was a voyeur. When Fassbinger did use unorthodox framing it was usually when he used a long shot and framed the actors through door archways, or in between stairway railings. This reinforced my feeling of watching the drama from an impartial distance. As well, there was a relative lack of non-diagetic sound in the film to the take the viewers attention away from what was happening on screen. I think this story would work well as theatre production.
The shot that moved me in “Ali: fear eats the soul” was when Emmi introduced Ali to her family for the first time, Specifically when her one son starts kicking the TV, he kicks it multiple times before it actually breaks.
This is shown actually amongst more than one shot, but the one that I mainly enjoyed was when he was kicking the TV and it wasn’t breaking.
It was completely silent with only a bit of shading in the shot, with a bit of reflection on the TV. I thought this shot was very interesting (as well as entertaining) because throughout the film everyone is quite verbal about there un-approval of there of relationship As well as about the culture and stereo type of Ali.
There was one shot in the movie "Ali: Fear Eats The Soul" that really exemplified a large portion of the former half of the film.
The film takes almost two conflicts and puts them one after the other, the first is that no one understands Emmi and Ali's love and is disgusted by it, while the second is that Ali becomes dissatisfied with the way things are going in the marriage.
The conflict mentioned first was exemplified in the first scene we meet Emmi's coworkers. Near the tail end of the scene, after they have finished discussing how ridiculous they think it is for an older woman to date a young foreigner and they have discovered that Emmi is one of these women. There is a shot of the stairwell they eat lunch in with Emmi in the viewer's bottom left corner of the window, looking out in lonely desperation as if she's all alone. Also in this shot are the three other aforementioned women who are on a lower level of the staircase eating their lunch after completely ignoring Emmi. Two major things about this shot composition is that firstly, the camera pulls back slightly, creating an effect that makes Emmi look more lost and alone. Secondly, the difference in levels of the characters, although Emmi is all by herself in her beliefs, she is shown to have the more just and noble beliefs by being placed higher on the staircase than the other cleaners.
The shot that moved me in the 1972 film, "Ali: Fear eats the Soul", was a shot later in the film, the one in which Emmi and her co-workers are eating lunch on the spiral staircase in the home where they clean. It is after Emmi has married Ali and her friends and co-workers are no longer fond of her for marrying a foreigner. Emmi sits above the three women who sit together below her. The three women then move over and away from Emmi. The position of the characters was ment to portray a sort of abandanment and isolation. The veiwer then feels bad for Emmi and the situation she has put herself in. The shot is then similarily shown later on in the film when a new women starts working with them, (maybe in place of Emmi) when the woman is left sitting alone on the stairs eating her lunch as the other women, including Emmi, talk amongst themselves away from the woman.
Fassbinder used a few techniques that he repeated throughout the film. One example was when he used the wall as a border, such as when we see Emmi standing all alone in the kitchen as we see her through the slightly open doorway. This technique gives the shot a feeling of isolation as if no one is there but the character.
Another shot that I found interesting was the shot in which Emmi and Ali are talking but not face-to-face as Emmi is focused on in the forefront right corner of the frame while Ali is blurred in the background. This shot changes as the different characters take turns speaking. Ali then becomes more clear to the veiwer as he walks towards the camera and closer to Emmi.
Overall, a good film.
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