Felix (West Germany, 1988) 82 min color DIR-SCR: Christel Buschmann, Helke Sander, Helma Sanders-Brahms, Margarethe von Trotta. PROD: Theo Hinz. DOP: Franz Rath, Frank Brühne, Martin Gressmann, Mike Gast. CAST: Ulrich Tukur, Barbara Auer, Eva Mattes, Danuta Lato. (Futura Film, Munich)
In this novel execution for a movie, four female directors jointly conceived the character of a hapless stud named Felix, and then each contributed a sequence for a feature film detailing his misadventures. Although all four segments were made creatively apart from each other, there is nonetheless a little thread of continuity, in which, we hope, Felix becomes a little wiser in the experience. The first, taking place entirely in Felix’s apartment, is an inventive slapstick yarn as he talks on the phone to a female friend about his latest partner who had just walked out on him. As he walks around the place, the huge phone cord gets tangled with many objects—the perfect metaphor for his complicated life. He decides to make a weekend getaway to forget his troubles, and thusly in the second sequence, he encounters two teasing females on a deserted beach. In perhaps the film’s most ambiguous (and quietest) piece, the girls exhibit their attraction for Felix in very little screen time. However, this sequence could be a little parable about the stud meeting his match. Everyone gets what they came for, but it is the women who take charge of the situation. The third segment begins with director Margarethe von Trotta once again showing her dramatic skills, as Felix consoles a crying woman in a café, who has just been jilted. Even those on the rebound are conquests for him! It is amusing watching Felix attempt to be sympathetic towards the woman, in an obvious ploy to get some loving, and then it turns out the woman’s ex-lover was female! Thusly, von Trotta exhibits a gift for comedy, in an ending where the humour is as hard-hitting as the melodrama of her other films (Sisters or the Balance of Happiness, Marianne and Julianne). Finally, we conclude with the most cinematic segment, as our hero once again chases skirts, this time at a carnival. Lovely use of fireworks. It makes sense that one man’s story is approached with all of these different styles: isn’t everyone’s life a mixed bag of feelings and tones?
Originally published in “Short Takes”, Vol. #1, Issue #11. This column, which randomly collected capsule reviews of films, for once had a theme: all the movies were previously broadcast on Jay Scott’s Film International program.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.