Director-Dictator Fassbinder

It seems that so many of the great directors were not admirable as human beings (Hitchcock, De Mille, Kubrick, Von Stroheim, etc, etc.). They were known for being difficult ... very! So too Fassbinder, but he was a great director & the epic mini-series Berlin Alexanderplatz was one of his best works. Atmospherically it really captured the louche nature of Weimar Germany, some scenes & some characters made your skin crawl. Not glamorous at all but it was compulsive, addictive viewing. Acting was first-rate, especially a fantastic performance from Lamprecht, as Franz managed to elicit responses of repulsion & sympathy at the same time. We get a clear sense of Franz's ordinariness & his vulnerability. Compelling, gut-wrenching performances from the main women in the series, Schygulla & Trissenaar, as they were equally brilliant (especially Hanna Schygulla) in Fassbinder's other gem, The Marriage of Maria Braun.