Beware of a Holy Whore
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Eddie Constantine, Herb Andress, Lou Castel, Marquard Bohm, Rudolf Waldemar BremEdition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language); German (Original Language), Analog; Spanish (Original Language)
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 103 minutes
Release Date: 1997-10-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Fox Lorber
Studio: Fox Lorber
VHS Movie Reviews of Beware of a Holy Whore
Movie Review: "Beware" Of Fassbinder
Summary: 3 Stars
If Francois Truffaut's "Day for Night" shows the joy of cinema, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Beware of A Holy Whore" shows the downside of cinema. The pain and misery which goes into a production. What a contrast between the director Truffaut played, who had one bad incident after another occur, but through it all had a smile on his face and the director in this film, Jeff (Lou Castle) who does nothing but complain and yell at the top of his lungs when the slightest problem occurs.
It is rumored that this film was inspired by events on the set of Fassbinder's previous film, "Whity", he version of a western. If there is any truth to this we have to wonder how on earth did Fassbinder direct 43 films! It's amazing that he ever completed one. Some suggest that the film is really a parody. That Fassbinder is making fun of himself. But, here's the thing. The film can only be a parody if there is some truth behind it. So once again I'll ask, how on earth did Fassbinder direct 43 films in this sort of environment?
The film has a group of people, including Hanna Schygulla, who worked many times with Fassbinder and Fassbinder himself is in the film, all waiting to shoot a film. Everyone seems to be in a daze, I wonder if Werner Herzog hypnotized this cast as well, as he suppossedly did on the set of his own film "Heart of Glass". But there is also a werid sexual vibe going on. We see various characters kissing one another as everyone seems to be jumping from one person to the next. And to be honest no one really stood out to me.
One thing that surprised me, and I don't know why it did, was the level of violence in these characters. Fassbinder did lead a frantic lifestyle of drugs and alcohol, so perhaps all of his characters were a reflection of him, but in this film I came to strongly realize what a group of violent people Fassbinder liked to make films about. So you have film-makers like Herzog making films about characters I find crazy and Fassbinder making films about violent people, where do you go to watch normal people. Both directors have succeeded in making films about people we wouldn't want as neighbors.
A lot of people, even Fassbinder fans, will become annoyed with the film. It doesn't seem to be doing much. But something about it held my interest. Maybe it was just the fact of seeing such strange characters. I don't think of this as one of the great Fassbinder films in a class with "The Merchant of Four Seasons", which would be his next film, or "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant" or even "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul". But I still think people should make an effort to see it. So a moderate recommendation.
Bottom-line: Not one of the great Fassbinder films but has some interesting moments. Could be seen as the flip-side of Truffaut's "Day for Night"
Summary of Beware of a Holy Whore
Fans of the prodigiously gifted Rainer Werner Fassbinder will find Beware of a Holy Whore the German director's most revealing look inside his filmmaking process. A kind of neurotic backstage comedy, the movie details the struggles of a film crew in Spain: the jealousies, tantrums, money problems. He doesn't spare himself in this process, as the movie's director (played by Lou Castel) is a petulant manipulator given to screaming fits. RWF himself plays a long-suffering production manager; the great pock-marked star of French B movies, Eddie Constantine, plays himself (looking somewhat bewildered by the deadpan jokes and frequent lulls). If the slack pacing and Warholian weirdness limit the movie, it nevertheless looks very vivid, thanks to future Hollywood cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. Fassbinder made around 40 features in his brief life, and this self-portrait gives hints about the maddening, mercurial personality that could pull off such a feat. --Robert HortonArt House & International VHS Video
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