MovieChat Forums > Lola (1982) Discussion > The lighting was distracting

The lighting was distracting

posted 9 years ago by buddyriptide
2 replies | jump to latest

Granted Fassbinder did an awesome job of the very extravagant lighting for this film. But after a while it got more distracting than impressive.

I think at some point he should have limited the crazy hues of blues and pinks for the brothel scenes only. But nope, he kept every mundane scene heavily lighted in either blues, reds, pinks or in Armin's office very deep yellow.

I think that since in film the actors would have to wait while the cinematographers set up their lighting kits would take forever in this case, Fassbinder's actors must have had the patience of saints.

I have to admit this is the first Fassbinder film I've seen (of course I've heard about his reputation for awhile) but maybe Lola 1981 wasn't the best film to jump on Fassbinder filmography, was it?

So yeah, after watching Lola I sure had a headache from all those lighting effects.

[–] melinda2001 9 years ago

I found it slightly distracting too but I also liked the effect in general. The only times I found it really objectionable was the bright tiny blue spotlight in Mueller-Stahl's eyes during close-ups. It was so bright and sharp that I couldn't help thinking about the person keeping it trained on him. And what was the point? He has beautiful blue eyes, so more blue is just overkill. A simple soft white fill would have been much better IMO.

[–] Xcalat3 (3701) 7 years ago

agreed the pink lightning was overdone.