GRADE: 8
A transgender woman tries to salvage something from the wreckage love has made of her life by confronting her anguished past, hoping to find ultimate acceptance among quondam acquaintances and herself.
Original Title: In einem Jahr mit 13 Monden
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Country of Origin: West Germany
Thoughts:
Difficult to watch and exhaustingly bleak, this nevertheless feels like a major work of queer cinema—far ahead of its time. The protagonist, Elvira/Erwin, is a trans woman who seems uncomfortable as either gender, incapable of accepting herself, hence of attaining the loving relationships she desires. It’s a brutally sad experience on the whole, but there is at least one moment of bizarre comedy built around an absurd Martin and Lewis skit, and moments of genuine beauty—particularly during the final scene, when a tape recording of an earlier interview with Elvira provides the soundtrack to her demise. I was also struck by the unusual, but gorgeous color choice for the film’s titles and credits: a mournful shade of violet. It’s not as accessible as some of Fassbinder’s other films, but it seems clear right from the opening narrative that it’s a deeply personal one the director.