Fear Eats the Soul
In part, the film pays tribute to Hollywood director Douglas Sirk’s melodramas, Imitation of Life and All that Heaven Allows by combining the style and typically “German” conceptions of everyday life. Fassbinder broke away from many of his typical films techniques with Angst essen Seele auf due to his time constraints and a 260 000 DM budget, which was small compared to his other films. He focuses on the storyline and borrows from the aesthetics of Jürgen Jürges, one of his contemporary German filmmakers whose shots typically used color and light to emphasize human drama in typical urban settings – perfect for the story of Angst essen Seele auf.
Angst essen Seele auf tells the story of an unlikely love between Emmi and Ali. Emmi Kurowski is an elderly cleaning lady, who meets the thirty-something Moroccan guest worker Ali in a bar one night, when she ducks in to avoid the rain. He asks her to dance and spends the night with her, but their growing relationship and eventual marriage bring the worst out in their friends and family who see the interracial and intergenerational aspects of their love as cutting across too many social norms.
Emmi and Ali take a holiday to escape the insanity and discrimination that surrounds them at home. When they return, most people seem to have turned over a new leaf and accept their relationship. Yet, without the external stresses, internal stress had room to grow. Emmi does not appreciate or respect Ali as much any more and flaunts his young body for her neighbors.
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