With Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, we're moving very far from the documentary-style camera work of Bicycle Thief. Here, Fassbinder employs several different techniques to influence the way we perceive the characters. At the bar in the film's first scene, the camera alternates between the bar regulars and Emmi. The switch back and forth emphasizes the crowd and then Emmi, alone; she is an outsider already. As the shots move closer to each character, I was struck by the weariness of all of them; well-lined faces and tired eyes. Fassbinder captures a sort of collective pain brought on by middle and lower class existence.
For a brief part of the movie, the relationship of Emmi and Ali seemed to challenge this pain. The scene in the restaurant takes place just after their marriage, and they are almost giddy as they order the most expensive items the menu has to offer. Fassbinder's camera work isolates the pair with a shot through a door. It's shot from a distance, which is a technique he also uses for In a Year of Thirteen Moons. The static angle doesn't reveal the more intimate and nonverbal communication we might expect from a married couple. Instead, the distance seems to emphasize the differences between them; with the details of Ali's face inscrutable, all we can make out are his foreign features that differ dramatically from Emmi's pale white face.
There's also Fassbinder's use of mirror shots, such as the one at the hospital. These shots emphasize Mayne's idea of 'spectatorship', in which the audience themselves are participating in the film by looking. Like at the beginning of the film, Emmi is alone. She holds and speaks to Ali, but her husband is unresponsive and his future health and fate are uncertain.
I'm still not sure what to make of these ideas of 'watching' and what they all mean, both in the context of this film and in others. To me, this seems like a film that definitely needs repeated watchings in order to fully grasp its messages.
I'm glad you began with the cinematography, I didn't focus too much on the editing in this film, so thats super helpful. I think pain is a very important topic to address in this film because as an outsider everyone deals with it. I remember the shots of them in the restaurant, I loved the composition so much.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, the use of mirrors also a way of creating distance. When we as spectators see the characters through a mirror we're not actually seeing them but their reflections, leaving us one step further from the real thing.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't even thought that the cinematography also creates distance between Emmi and Ali, but it definitely does. Like when she's looking at him through the door and then shuts it.
ReplyDeleteEmmi and Ali seem to bond over the fact that they both are outsiders and feel lonely. It's really interesting how you describe that the cinematography and editing further emphasize this distance or separation Emmi and Ali feel, not only with others but even each other as well.
ReplyDeleteI love the mention of the camera work and how the shoots seem to emphasize distance between people. It makes me think of the scene where Ali leaves after Emmi invites her friends to meet him in her apartment. The distance between them seemed so far even though they were only feet away from each other.
ReplyDeleteI think that its interesting that the camera not only emphasizes the distance between the characters on screen but that it also keeps us, the spectators at a real distance. Every other film that we've watched so far has worked really hard to pull spectators into the storyworld while this one works to consciously put us outside of it.
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