Margit Carstensen Movies
- 2007
Director Crispin Glover teams with screenwriter Steven C. Stewart for this surreal, semi-autobiographical feature detailing cerebral palsy-sufferer Stewart's remarkable life and many love affairs. A semi-sequel to Glover's shocking directorial debut What Is It? (2005), It's Fine! Everything Is Fine opens with Stewart lying helplessly on the hospital floor. As he is being transported back to his bed, Stewart embarks on an inward journey in which his suave charm proves irresistable to the ladies. Though his imaginary sexual conquests allow Stewart a welcomed opportunity to live out his many erotic fantasies, the unshakable frustration of being an eternal outcast soon causes his actions to take an unexpectedly dark turn. It's Fine! Everything Is Fine made its world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven C. Stewart, Margit Carstensen, (more)
The Tschirn brothers have their share of problems. Middle brother Hans-Jörg (Moritz Bleibtreu of Run Lola Run) is a librarian who neglects his duties in order to ogle every attractive woman that enters his workplace. His clumsy efforts to make conversation with them go nowhere. He takes his fetishistic peeping a step further, following women into the ladies room so he can sit in the next stall and pleasure himself while he spies on them. Older brother Werner (Herbert Knaup), a successful Green Party politico, would seem to be a bit more together, but his home life is in shambles. His wife, Signe (Katja Riemann of Rosenstrasse), no longer responds to his marital advances, and seems to have an unhealthily intimate relationship with their rebellious teenage son, Ralf (Tom Schilling), who spends much of his time trying to videotape his father's every embarrassment. Younger brother Martin has had a sex change and become Agnes (Martin Weiss). Agnes is a good-natured person, but profoundly unhappy, perhaps stemming from his unfulfilled relationship with an American fashion designer (played by Monster's Ball producer Lee Daniels in a cameo). But Hans-Jörg blames all of their problems on their father, Günther (Vadim Glowna), and can't even bring himself to visit the old man. Agnes and His Brothers, written and directed by Oskar Roehler, was selected by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center for inclusion in the 2005 edition of New Directors/New Films. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Weiss, Moritz Bleibtreu, (more)
- 2002
Written and directed by newcomer Chris Kraus, this family drama centers around the eccentric Jesko (Jürgen Vogel), who, despite a debilitating condition, makes a visit to his father, Gebhard (Dietrich Hollinderbaumer), and brother, Ansgar (Peter Davor), on the day that Ansgar is scheduled to take over the family company. However, when Ansgar reveals that their long-estranged mother, Kathe (Margit Carstensen) has returned home, Jesko's life is thrown even further off of its already crooked axis. Though Jesko is far from normal himself, it's Kathe who is truly insane. Her lucidity is further put to the test when she turns out to be the most viable bone marrow donor for Jesko's much needed surgery. Flashbacks reveal that Kathe was, in fact, the cause of her own son's head injuries -- years of child abuse had done serious damage to his skull and brain. The deepest of family secrets, however, isn't revealed until the marrow of a little-known relative turns out to be a superior donor candidate. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jürgen Vogel, Margit Carstensen, (more)
- 2000
After a rat is discovered on board their airplane, a group of travelers is stranded at the Manila airport. They include the mild-mannered Knut (Peter Ruehring) and his icy wife Regine (Margit Carstensen), who are both history teachers from eastern Germany. Knut befriends the jovial Walther (Michael Degen) and his Filipino wife Maribel (Chin-Chin Gutierrez), who are taking the body of Walther's dead son back to Germany. Also along for the wait is Cora (Ana Capri), a businesslike husband hunter; Rudi and Herbert, two skirt-chasing brothers who fall in with a poised American-German journalist (Elizabeth McGovern); and sex tourist Franz (Martin Semmelrogge), who forms an unlikely relationship with Mercy (Ces Quesada), a shy washroom attendant who can't understand a word Franz is saying. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jürgen Vogel, Michael Degen, (more)
- 1992
Just as there are wide-angle lenses and wide-spray shotgun shells, there are broadly aimed spoofs, and this is one of them. Left, right, neo-Nazis and do-gooders all come in for brickbats in this equal-opportunity slam. Even the reunification of Germany falls under the category of "tasteless modern inventions." In the story, a secret service agent and his female partner are given the job of investigating the murder of some people seeking political asylum in Germany. In the vision of the world that emerges while they chase the very baddest bad guys, the powerless enjoy being messed with by bullies and rapists, and mental health is a nonsensical idea. This dark, nihilistic view of life reportedly suited this film's largely teen male target audience to a "t," but more sensitive sorts (almost anyone else) is liable to find it offensive. Nonetheless, this is a fast-paced, expertly made thriller in addition to being a spoof, and it can readily be appreciated on that level. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margit Carstensen, Peter Kern, (more)
This West German film was first released in 1985 under the title Bittere Ernte. Armin-Mueller Stahl plays a Polish farmer living under the wartime Nazi occupation. Stahl isn't too offended at the prospect of answering to the Germans; in fact, he has profited by confiscating the property of his neighbor, a wealthy Jew. His conscience doesn't disturb him until a starving Jewish woman (Elisabeth Trissenaar) stumbles onto his property. At first Stahl shelters her, but his baser instincts surface; she is in no position to refuse when he ultimately rapes her. She even comes to fall in love with Stahl--and kills herself when another woman moves in with him. Stahl survives the war with health and wealth intact, only mildly disturbed by the misery he has caused. This Oscar-nominated film was to have been lensed in director Agnieszka Holland's native Poland; upon the imposition of martial law, production was switched to Sweden. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armin Mueller-Stahl, Elisabeth Trissenaar, (more)
- 1985
In this surreal psychological thriller, Yvi (Margit Carstensen) is experiencing a selective amnesia after she suffers a bullet wound to the head and is now in the care of doctors in the very same Institute where she was working as a doctor. After a new friend named Adrian (Christopher Donnay) decides to take Yvi to his spacious villa so she will recuperate faster, her presence antagonizes Adrian's butler, a heavy who has an S&M relationship with Adrian. Meanwhile, back at the Institute, the doctors -- especially the head doctor -- are more loco than the patients. After several explosions of violence, killings, and some shocking glimpses at the life of prostitutes, Adrian manages to solve the riddle of Yvi's amnesia, even though he himself is persecuted by the docs at the clinic. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margit Carstensen, Christophe Donnay, (more)
- 1981
Everyone from Heloise and Abelard, Christ and the Devil, the Virgin Mary and Salome, is represented in this film of a play staged in Rome. Oskar Panizza -- poet, playwright, and doctor -- wrote the original play in 1894 and was put into prison the following year then sent to an asylum in 1904, where he died 17 years later. His trial is staged at the beginning of the film, before the actual play begins. The play itself deals with a "trial" in heaven, making an ironic juxtaposition to the tragic fate of Panizza. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antonio Salines, Magdalena Montezuma, (more)
Usually misattributed to the horror genre, this challenging and highly unusual drama stars Isabelle Adjani as a young woman who forsakes her husband (Sam Neill) and her lover (Heinz Bennent) for a bizarre, tentacled creature that she keeps in a run-down Berlin apartment. In the beginning, her husband knows nothing about the monster and sincerely believes that his wife is insane. He has her tailed by private detectives, whom she kills and feeds to the creature. Still unaware of what has happened, the husband contends with the reserved and inadvertently seductive presence of his wife's look-alike (also played by Adjani), a schoolteacher who frequently comes to tutor his son while his wife is away. Though tempted by her quiet goodness and beauty, he is still passionately in love with his wife and even after he finds out about the murders, he stays by her side and helps her conceal her crimes. Filmed amidst the oppressive backdrop of the Berlin Wall by the expatriate Polish director Andrzej Zulawski (who was unable to work in his homeland after too many clashes with the authorities), the picture is so relentlessly intense and so deliberately esoteric, that most viewers would find it too hard to connect with. Still its symbolism, its unbridled and flashy directorial style, and the tour de force performance by Isabelle Adjani earned this unique tale a cult following in Europe. The version originally released in the U.S. had 45 minutes chopped out; in this form, it is barely comprehensible and looks like a cheap, gory feast. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, (more)
German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder both directed and photographed The Third Generation (Die Dritte Generation). Displaying a sense of humor that can most kindly be described as perverse, Fassbinder follows the exploits of a group of well-heeled German terrorists. Without truly taking sides, the director demonstrates how the terrorists are essentially shooting themselves in the foot. The more havoc they spread, the tighter the government restrictions against other radicals. Eddie Constantine, the sang-froid leading man of many a Lemmy Caution espionage film, is ironically cast in The Third Generation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margit Carstensen, Eddie Constantine, (more)
- 1978
In this autobiographical film, a young man and his family have fled East Germany in the early 1950s for the increased opportunities they perceive to exist in West Germany. Part of a huge influx of refugees (up to 20,000 per day), they are given quarters, along with many other refugees, in a mansion formerly occupied by wealthy Jews before the war. A diverse lot, the one thing they all have in common is how completely unprepared they are for life in the West. After their high expectations are shown to be unrealistic, some of the new residents return to the East, and everyone (including the boy) experiences some nostalgia for what they have lost. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dietlinde Turban
- 1977
In this scandalous film, footage from Marlene Dietrich's early films is combined with documentary footage of Adolf Hitler, along with newly filmed dramatic re-enactments, suggesting that Dietrich was Hitler's secret mistress. Dietrich brought the filmmaker to court to prevent the release of this film, though it was quietly screened at the Cannes Film Festival before anything was resolved. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kurt Raab, Margit Carstensen, (more)
A housewife's slow descent into suicidal depression is chronicled in great detail in this movie by experimental film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margit Carstensen, Ulrich Faulhaber, (more)
This fast-paced black comedy by wunderkind director Rainer Werner Fassbinder follows the frantic efforts of a starving and confused writer, Walter Kranz (Kurt Raab) to beg, borrow or steal enough money to survive on, and at the same time make some sense of his confusing life. Unable to write enough to keep his publisher's royalty advances coming, he seeks out a woman he imagines is a prostitute and interviews her for material. He is also inspired to utter some poetry, which his brassy, outspoken wife identifies as coming from the famous homosexuality-advocating mystical German poet, Stefan George. This inspires Walter to take a closer look at the "gay scene," and he quickly becomes a sort of celebrity there. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kurt Raab, Helen Vita, (more)
Angela is the crippled daughter of two separated but still-feuding parents. In this Rainer Werner Fassbinder film, the wealthy parents are both induced to come to their country vacation house with their lovers in tow. For years, they have tried to make Angela feel guilty for having driven them to seek comfort outside their marriage, though ironically there is some indication that their dalliances may have had a hand in the accident that caused her condition. In this unpleasant milieu, they begin playing a truth-telling game called "Chinese Roulette," which leads to even more distasteful revelations and recriminations.. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margit Carstensen, Ulli Lommel, (more)
Mother Kusters (Brigette Kira) is the wife of a factory worker who goes beserk one day, killing himself and the boss' son. Mother finds herself a media celebrity, which only serves to make herself and her late husband look like idiots. Later, Mother is "adopted" by a Communist couple who wish to exploit her husband's "act of defiance" for their own purposes. Finally left alone, Mother Kusters decides to stop living off her husband's notoriety and turn into a human being again. Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder used the 1929 film Mother Krausen's Journey to Happiness as a springboard for his own mysoginistic slant on opportunism. The film hit a bit too close to home in his own country, where it was banned from entering the Berlin Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This dark horror film from director Ulli Lommel was based on the real-life crimes of Fritz Haarman (Kurt Raab), the so-called "Vampire of Dusseldorf" who murdered over 25 young boys, drank their blood, and sold their flesh as black-market meat. Several German films had depicted Haarman's murderous exploits, most notably Fritz Lang's classic M (1931), but Lommel's version is far more graphic and horrifying. Produced by filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who also appears, the film revels in pseudo-Expressionistic imagery which sears itself into the viewer's mind. Raab's performance is reminiscent of both Peter Lorre in M and Max Schreck in the vampire classic Nosferatu (1922), but is unforgettable in its own right. A deeply disturbing cinematic poem about the face of true evil, this overlooked classic has developed a cult following, but is not recommended for sensitive viewers. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Martha is a wealthy and totally self-involved woman -- so much so that on a trip during which her father dies, she does indeed cry, but only because she lost her purse. She marries a stranger who claims not to be at all attracted to her, and their wedding is only the beginning of a battle between them to determine who will get the upper hand over the other. Martha holds her own in this genuinely sado-masochistic relationship, until a tragic accident paralyzes her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1972
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This tale of intermingled love and hate is directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and is the 13th of the 33 films he made in his short life. It explores the universal dynamics present in close human relationships, even lesbian ones. Petra Von Kant (Margit Carstensen) is a fashion designer. Some time ago, she divorced the husband she no longer loved. Until recently, she has been in a fairly satisfactory S & M relationship with her assistant. When she develops an obsession with her fashion model, however, things become far more complicated. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
