The Merchant of Four Seasons

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09/12/2019 My second film from this sad man. Hans sells fruit to make ends meet. He is a short, chubby guy with a long, skinny wife. She nags on him as he pour the earnings into drinks. He treats her bad, but after he suffers from a heart attack she just can't leave him. This does not change much, he is still in depression and everything seem pretty hopeless. Not the most joyful of films but said to be Fassbinders first true melodrama. The lack of love is present here and a pretty troubled man and his relationship steer this film. Solid performances, OK looks - with some easy moves and tricks. This film is not ment for entertainment, rather the oposite - it may put you in a bad mood. 7 out of 10 fresh pears. See more 10/11/2016 Brutally delivered and non-linear in its narrative, The Merchant of Four Seasons is an early masterstroke from one of Germany's most important directors. Despite being set in early post-war Germany, The Merchant of Four Seasons is less a social commentary than other works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's, and instead it concentrates on a more universal theme: the break down of the male psyche. The movie gives us an indelible character in Hans (quietly played by Hans Hirschmüller) a man who initially comes off as deplorable, but becomes unexpectedly more sympathetic as the film goes on. This was also one of Fassbinder's first films that showed his adherence to Douglas Sirk with his penchant for melodrama and unflattering depiction of domestic life, but he actually might be an even more nuanced then his forbear. Fassbinder really knows how to work a camera, with subtle and surprising movements that augment the drama, and his subdued use of music (where sometimes its played so loudly that a pin drop would ruin the mood) can't be matched by any of his peers. One of the director's most essential works. See more 04/16/2016 Fassbinder stops experimenting and goes back to storytelling, and the film is all the better for it. See more 08/04/2015 Fassbinder deceptively aims for "realism" when where he is really taking us is a world in which every aspect of the human condition is amplified beyond the realm of "reality" -- this creates for a profound and strangely effective commentary and examination of expectations and hopes relating to both the individual and "the bourgeois." Hans is a fairly unsuccessful fruit peddler who almost revels in his failure while his wife grows increasingly unhappy and unsatisfied. The same is true of his successful family. His has fully taken "ownership" of the way his family views him. Gradually our protagonist slips further and further into a state of rage-fueled anger to a full-fledged alcoholic. Hans' choice is disturbing, but also operates on a sort of metaphorical level. Whether it be due to his circumstances or some stronger power to which there is hint -- Hans is as much a victim of his own nihilism as the trap formed by the cultural in which he must live. It is a brutal and harsh examination of the human man oppressed. Devastating and unforgettable. See more 06/04/2015 Rainer Werner Fassbinder breaks out into international waters with his mix of dark comedy and melodrama and stunning direction. Merchant of Four Seasons glows from his other films, while showcasing what Fassbinder was really capable of in the future of his films. See more eric b @RT55475325 03/21/2014 "The Merchant of Four Seasons" is a grim portrait of a troubled fruit seller. Scarred by an unloving mother and unrewarding stints in the Foreign Legion and the police, he struggles to keep his modest business afloat while enduring a loveless marriage in which both partners are unfaithful. He drinks too much and beats his wife, but his self-loathing becomes wholly unmanageable after he suffers a heart attack and can't work anymore. He hires others to peddle his stock, but they only make his masculinity feel more threatened. "Merchant" is actually easier to watch than many Fassbinder films. Its scenes are shot in brightly lit interiors, and there is no murky musical score to endure (in fact, there's no score at all). The cast is loaded with good faces to study, and a splash of full frontal nudity (alas, the luminous Hanna Schygulla stays dressed) will tickle the audience's libido. See more Read all reviews

The Merchant of Four Seasons

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