Snoooze. I watched this in a German Studies class and the only thing more intolerable than the film was the room's air conditioning, which, set at a crisp 35 degrees, faithfully captured the eastern european winters depicted in the film.
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shareNot boring whatsoever. This has now become one of my favorite Fassbinder films and it was a total joy to watch. It was beautifully photographed, the black and white was stunning. The sets and costumes were great and the way he used them as backdrop just added to the overall stylistic effect.
It brought to mind parts of "Barry Lyndon", which was released the following year & it made me wonder if Stanley Kubrick had seen "Effie Briest" and was inspired by the languid pace of the film. The only obvious differences are that "Barry Lyndon" was in brilliant color, but the black and white of "Effie Briest" made it seem that you sensed colors. The other thing that struck me was that "Barry Lyndon" had a wonderful music score, mainly classical, and I was so taken with it that I immediately went out and bought the soundtrack album. The only music in "Effie Briest" was the occasional piano playing and songs performed by the operatic singer.
I guess this makes "Effie Briest" in especially good company, as many people also found "Barry Lyndon" to be "boring", while I found it visually stunning and the pace languid and soothing just as I did with "Effie Briest".
I hate to say this, but I did find it a little boring. It certainly has its merits, but nonetheless... :(
P.S. This is coming from someone who enjoys Jarman's 'Blue', van Sant's 'Gerry' and Tarr in general.
Oh dear, I'm afraid I have to agree with Yorktom.. I also like slow films- I've also loved Bella Tarr films* with long atmospheric takes and durations measured in hours, I have enjoyed other fassbinder films... But somehow this just didn't get me.
I wonder just what it was I missed?
*(so please may I ask you please not to hit me with the "well go away back and watch 'Transforms III' then" type comments)
few visible scars
I have to disagree. Barry Lyndon is one of my favorite movies (we're talking top 10 area). But Effie Briest was kind of boring. This comes from someone who generally likes Fassbinders films and is a huge fan of Bergman. I think what I missed was more connection to the characters. While the film looks good it always keeps quite some distance from the characters that are as closed as the film.
I don't think it was extremely boring just mostly uninvolving (it should have been more like her final monolouge when you actually feel the character). Of course it won't feel so to all people but I'd say that the film generally isn't very accesible.
I would not call Effie Briest bad though.
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You see things; and you say Why? But I dream things that never were and I say Why not?
As one of my German literature teachers observed, the book is still so popular in German lit classes because practically all (male) German lit teachers are secretly crushing on Effi.
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