Baal (1970)
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Directors
Cast
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Sigi Graue, Hanna Schygulla, Günther Neutze, Miriam Spoerri, Marian Seidowsky, Irmgard Paulis
A gifted young poet challenges bourgeois norms through both his art and his way of life.
The story
A gifted young poet upends the norms and rules of bourgeois society through his art and his unconventional way of life. In a tavern, he sings a hymn to summer to an audience he has not chosen; the consequences of summer, brandy, and song follow. The story focuses not on celebrating his selfishness or hunger for life, but on how an unbroken self responds to the pressures and discouragements of a society portrayed as antisocial.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
At the center is a gifted young poet who overturns the norms and rules of bourgeois society not only through his art but also through his way of life. In Brecht’s words, the play deals with the ordinary story of a man who sings a hymn to summer in a tavern, without having chosen his audience—including the consequences of summer, the brandy, and the singing … The play is not about glorifying the naked selfishness and unrestrained hunger for life of an antisocial poet, but about the response of an unbroken self to the impositions and discouragements of a world that is itself antisocial.
Genres
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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