Der Händler der vier Jahreszeiten
After “Die Ehe der Maria Braun”, I feel like I am completely incapable of seeing another Fassbinder for awhile. Unlike when I saw “Katzelmacher”, I would compare it to “Maria Braun” in some form, and I would try to find the same sensation as when I saw that film. Of course, this is way too much for a little film like the “Händler”, which is much more something like a simple film like “Katzelmacher”. Both of them absolutely deserve to be in this list (what a coincidence that all three Fassbinders I have seen were on here!), but in comparison, the “Händler” is just not all that great.
It’s not like there was anything missing, I just couldn’t relate to the “Händler” as much. So the women are all wrong and any one of them has stabbed one knife into his heart… That is tragically beautiful, but so what?
All in all, I have enjoyed the film, especially the last scene and all the facets the marriage between the main character and his wonderfully neurotic wife. I also saw with amusement that Fassbinder can make sex scenes that actually look somewhat natural, in comparison to the satire that they were in “Katzelmacher” (which is refreshing). In general, I doubt this is the best Fassbinder over all, even though my judgement might be too harsh in comparison to the brilliant “Katzelmacher” and “Maria Braun”.