Love Is Colder Than Death (1969) User Reviews

Far From Monochrome...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 26 April 2023]

If Rainer Werner Fassbinder catches your attention, this first feature just might well be worth a mention, as it makes an introduction, to some actors and production, the director went to use with great effect. While the themes are quite generic and seen before, the reflection is distinct, some will adore, the inventive presentation, the budget scenes shot with invention, all in all, boundaries pushed out, to clear the floor.

From a director that went on to create some of the finest films of the last century, a take on the often spun theme of the seedier side of society, as a couple of low grade villains get into some capers, ably supported by their a lady of the night, the perpetually wonderful Hanna Schygulla.

Fassbinder's stark debut examines nihilist criminals

[timmy_501 · 7/10 · 30 June 2009]

R.W. Fassbinder's debut feature Love is Colder Than Death was shot on a very limited budget and it shows. For the most part Fassbinder seems to have made the lack of budget work for him rather than against him however. Faced with a lack of funds, Fassbinder apparently decided to make this film as austere as possible. The film is shot in black and white but it uses less blacks and greys than any other film I can think of; the use of white (especially in backgrounds) adds to the film's stark tone as does the lack of camera movement. I've never seen a film in the crime genre that utilizes long takes and the stationary camera the way this one does.

In general I don't like crime movies that focus solely on the criminals but I found this one fascinating because these people didn't seem to be acting out of the usual petty motivations; rather, each of the three main characters seemed to be harboring a hatred for mankind. This is expressed in the contempt they show when they steal some trivial items in a store; rather than quietly pocket these things they choose to go to elaborate means to distract the shopkeepers and steal things right in front of them. It's not enough to take something from someone else: they also have to prove their superiority while making their victim into a fool. I found their misanthropy horrifyingly fascinating and that alone sets this film apart from other, similar films.

This film has been compared to the work of Jean Luc Godard and with good reason: these characters reminded me of the ones in films like Breathless and Pierrot Le Fou. Still, the characters in Love is Colder than Death are fundamentally different from the ones in those films because Godard's characters come across as lazy and selfish people who can't fit in while Fassbinder's characters come across as more ideologically motivated nihilist misanthropes.

The film's Spartan aesthetic is used to accentuate the characters' cynical attitudes in at least a couple of ways. The characters are often seen in front of structures so white they resemble the void: thus the exterior of the places they inhabit reflects the emptiness felt by these people who have no purpose or emotion. Another nice touch is the lack of visual representation of the gunshot wounds. At first it seemed like this lack could be entirely explained by budgetary concerns but on further reflection that's just silly: Fassbinder didn't have to show the bodies after they were shot but he usually did because he had a purpose in doing so. The gunshots seem to have had no effect because the shooters have no empathy for their victims, they care so little about them that the wounds don't even register with them.

Stylish Nihilism

[pgeary6001 · 6/10 · 18 March 2021]

Robotic, detached, static...this exercise in style holds fascination for the patient cinema goer. The influence of early Godard is evident, along with a Warholian aesthetic of minimalism in both plot and action.

The black and white cinematography is beautiful to look at, while the blank stares of the cast exude a frigid, mannequin-like quality. The atmosphere is Teutonic and bleak, while the glacial pace and extended pauses in both action and dialogue bring to mind the Iranian school of slow cinema. Film noir elements add a flavour of low-rent glamour.

For serious cinema buffs and Fassbinder enthusiasts only.

Joyless, but OK

[wvisser-leusden · 7/10 · 24 November 2009]

'Liebe ist kalter als der Tod (= German for 'love is colder than death'), from 1969, is Rainer Werner Fassbinder's first film.

Shot in black and white, it sometimes shows a little 'wooden' and imperfect. Nevertheless it surely contains all well-known Fassbinder features: a very German setting, slow speed, serious, with a strong touch of realism & pessimism.

Although Fassbinder himself extensively acts, female lead Hanna Schygulla by far adds the greatest value here. After 'Liebe', she should feature in many other Fassbinder-productions.

This film's somewhat weird title nevertheless fully covers its joyless plot. Strangely this lack of fun is somehow accentuated by Schygulla's brief nude appearances. They make an unusual contrast, already revealing Fassbinder's genius at this early stage in his career.

European art house film types pretend to be gangsters...

[wlgme · 28 April 2017]

...and the artsy-fartsy results are just as ridiculous as one would expect.

With his soft, fat behind squeezed everlastingly into tight white pants, the main character, Franz, is played by the film's director, and while Rainer Werner Fassbinder is certainly ugly enough to convince as a thug pimp, this is no RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER. Not for a single instant does the film persuade the viewer that he or she is peeking into the lives and world of real criminals. Instead, the impression is that of a particularly amateurish Andy Warhol abomination, or of what might have been Ed Wood's nouvelle vague magnum opus.

Pretty boy Bruno (Ulli Lommel) is supposed to be a psychopathic killer but exudes not the slightest air of threat, and for most of the movie, he sports a fedora which makes him look almost as laughable as CONTEMPT's Michel Piccoli in his fedora and bath towel (almost, I say, because it's hard to beat the king). Like Franz, Bruno is frequently seen with a cigarette dangling from in his mouth - "Bogarting" (along with a laconic affect) is a sign of toughness in European cinematic culture, a tradition which Woody Allen parodied so amusingly in EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX.

As for Johanna (Hanna Schygulla), Franz's prostitute girlfriend - she has a nude scene or two, but don't get your hopes up.

LOVE's silly scenes are legion. The perfunctory shootouts are more over-the-top than William Shatner getting hit by a phaser blast, and the police's idea of stakeout is to put a crowd of plainclothes officers at the entrance of a bank. A Turkish pimp isn't alerted to the fact that his life is in danger when Bruno, complete with fedora and sunglasses, enters a café in broad daylight (the perfect time and place, of course, to stage a hit), with his hand concealed under the lapel of his overcoat, and takes a seat directly facing his intended victim; and Bruno himself, again in broad daylight - and again in his fedora - doesn't think it unwise to piggyback a dying man through the streets looking for a place to finish him off.

LOVE reminded me of a designer jeans ad which I once saw in the New York City subway system. Under a row of male models striking fashionista "tough guy" poses, a joker had used a magic marker to scrawl the words, THIS ADVERTISEMENT EXPLOITS A**HOLES.

A**holes! That's one more star than I give to LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH, firstly because of IMDb's guidelines, and secondly because the film's subtitled version allowed me to fast forward through its lengthy silences, which are even more worthless than the dialogue, without feeling that I'd missed anything.

early Fassbinder

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 4 November 2021]

West Germany, during the cold war, a few years after the wall had been installed. Small time guy Franz ( played by 24 year old Fassbinder, uncredited ) wants to run his own operation, but the big guys have moved in, and want to take over his territory. They have sent Bruno ( Ulli Lommel ) to keep an eye on things. So bruno, Franz, and his girlfriend pal around together. One of the mob guys is Raoul (Howard Gaines), always shirtless, for some reason. Although if i had that body, i would be too. It's all very surreal... minimal script, long pauses, posing, slow movement. No real connection between many scenes. Written, and directed, and starring Rainer Fassbinder, one of his very early films. His last film, Querelle, is one of his better known works. His films usually have a dark, sinister side, with violence, or seedy locations. Sadly, Fassbinder died young at 37 of a drug overdose. It's pretty good. Fassbinder fans will love it. It's ony one hour 28 minutes, but it feels longer with so little dialogue.

Not impressed

[rommultimediamx · 6/10 · 12 June 2021]

Aesthetically a beautiful film. That being said acting is awful and direction leaves a lot to desire for. Archetypal gangster characters taken to a ridiculous caricaturesque level through uber german coldness. With an erratic rythm I made it to the end thanks it's only 1:25. I guess this is for fans only and film snobs.

cold and brilliant

[oslane · 10/10 · 5 December 2005]

Fassbinder's debut feature seems to be strongly influenced by early Godard films like Breathles or Band of Outsiders in both its gritty black and white style and references to the gangster/noir genres. But where Godard's characters have a playful sense of humor, trying to act their gangster fantasies wearing fedoras and poorly executing non-thought out crimes to the tune of a swinging soundtrack and beautiful woman, Love Is Colder than Death does all with a fridgid, robotic sense of cool. Every shot is like a black and white photo where the acting is like posing in front of mirror before the action (or one of the characters)gets executed. The film is pretty avante-garde in using mostly completely static shots and the characters pretty much act "too cool". They just stare at you as you're supposed to react, then when there's an action, you get surprised and realise it's still in the movie. Forget that the plot is simple, threadbare even, this is an atmosphere piece.

Fassbinder's take on the Nouvelle Vague

[Perception_de_Ambiguity · 5/10 · 30 June 2009]

„They are people, who, to be able to live what seems worth living,

play roles that aren't really their own.

Of course this is something sad, then again it also is something beautiful."

• Rainer Werner Fassbinder (translated)

.

'Liebe ist kälter als der Tod' is about criminal rebels who don't want to conform and who regard freedom as their highest good that is worth protecting at all costs. This is unmistakably shown in the beginning when a syndicate wants to recruit Franz and Bruno, but they refuse to join despite much pressure being put on them.

They live the image of rebellious Hollywood icons from James Cagney to James Dean. Apart from their freedom appearances are important. Suits, hats, sunglasses, guns and gangster-ish behavior they can not live without.

Franz killed a Turk and now he has problems with the police and the Turk's brother. He gets those problems out of the way by killing more people. A great many of them. Bruno helps him. Bruno became Franz' best friend. Franz kills the Turk's brother. Bruno kills a witness of Franz' murder. They don't bother to do things subtly. When they get guns but can't pay for them they just kill the dealer, no big deal. Another obstacle out of the way. When they are stopped by a police man they could have easily lied their way out of it. But nah, *BANG*.

Gunshots, although numerous, seem very little present. Either they are made off-screen or the film cuts to the next scene before the shot. Impacts from gunshots are not visible, the victims just break down and the film immediately moves on.

This makes us think of the main characters as the cool rebels that they see themselves as, rather than as criminals which is how the people around them see those characters. The style of the film very much supports the characters' self-image. It makes us see the things the way they see it. They think they are in a gangster movie, so the film is a gangster movie. It's very much French New Wave - the culture is that of American movies and myth - but the setting is Germany and the values are of the German student movement (aka the 68er-Bewegung), or more precisely Fassbinder's view of it. Apart from their "acts of rebellion" their lives are pretty empty and they clearly have nothing to live for, making them rebels without a cause.

Overall the film plays a lot like Godard's 'Bande à part', just more serious in tone and more mundane. There is no lofty dialogue.

The film is made to look plot less. Stuff happens but connections between scenes are left unpronounced. It feels like a film of plot-fragments. The "Turks plot" doesn't seem to be of major importance. The first time it was referred to almost in passing and the second time when Franz is interrogated about it by the police the focus seems to be a different one. Even when they kill the Turk's brother it is far from obvious who that man is. It's only in retrospect that all this comes together to form a plot.

By the end we find out that Bruno was sent by the syndicate to make friends with Franz and to make him join the syndicate and that this is what the (absurd) plot was about. Fact is that there is a plot, but the film is very concerned with being ambiguous about it. Even in the last ten minutes when the film finally starts to uncover things one crucial dialogue is almost unintelligible because the music plays over it too loudly. And then the scene of the attempted bank robbery which is the most crucial moment in the plot is edited frantically, making it difficult to see what exactly is going on.

To make sense of it you have to put together the puzzle after the movie is over. I consider this a weak move, as it makes the first time viewing unnecessarily little enjoyable. Gladly RWF didn't repeat this approach in any of the many other films that I have seen of his.

As for the meaning of the title; love is colder than death. It is Johanna (Franz' girlfriend) who looks through Bruno and his plan to get Franz to become a part of the syndicate. What binds Johanna and Franz is love, Bruno and Franz are bound by death - Bruno, who murders for Franz. The "coldness" of the title refers to the ability to see things as they are, to look through deceptions. Johanna, with her love for Franz, is less deceived by Bruno than Franz is. Love is colder than death. Not even by the end of the movie Franz knows what's going on. The film closes with him calling Johanna a whore, probably assuming that she betrayed Bruno out of jealousy for the close friendship between Franz and Bruno.

A Film Noir Masterpiece!

[telekon-3 · 10/10 · 25 December 2005]

This film is not for every one. If you are mostly familiar with American Fim Noir or Gangster movies... Don't Go Here! This is one dark, moody, cynical and depressing film. Yet, that being said, every lingering shot and silent moment has more layers in it then most entire movies do today.

The story here is very simple; two criminals meet when they are recruited by a crime syndicate. They become friends, we find out one is a pimp and the other is a killer for hire. Later, needing a place to stay, the killer falls in love with the pimp's girlfriend (also a prostitute). The three begin to work as a crime trio with the killer doing most of the dirty work.

But the focus here is not the story. Fassbinder subtly allows the three character's relations towards each other become the real story. The people in this film have sold their souls to criminal life a long time ago. Yet, like everyone else in the world, they still struggle for there inner desires, and the need to feel something real.

This movie quite obviously had a very low budget. As a person is shot we, rarely see an exploding squib or even a blank cartridge being fired. The prime focus is the actor facial expressions and reactions. (Equally as powerful, yet more creative then seeing blood) The camera work is extremely minimal, yet far more revealing of the characters subconscious as they walk down a park or into a supermarket.

This is not your modern day first time film maker or film school graduate. Don't expect a Chris Nolan or a Quinten Tarentino. LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH, does borrow from certain film genres but it is so uniquely its own film, and creates such a beautiful sense of detachment that has rarely been attempted in film.

like early Godard without the interesting parts - for Fassbinder completitsts only

[Quinoa1984 · 5/10 · 9 April 2017]

In this first feature from RW Fassbinder, which is among the movie titles that should be preserved in a National or World Archive of the movie titles that should be remembered a thousand years from now (if such a thing could be done), it's like he decided, as the Godard-phile that he was, to take Bande a Part and emphasize most of the parts where the characters do nothing and make it look cool (all of his early features, until he discovered Sirk at a festival when he was about 26 - I didn't know this until recently, but it explains why there isn't much by way of melodrama until Merchant of Four Seasons). The only problem is Fassbinder is also working here without a firm script - or, as he told Uli Lommel according to 'Fassbinder in Hollywood,' the script was all "in his head" as it were - and it shows.

This is also kind of like what one might see as what the "kids" were doing about five-ten years ago when the "mumblecore" movies were coming out, though with a crime movie twist (Lommel even has the Alain Delon look down from Le Samourai with the trenchcoat and hat, which means Fassbinder is actually homaging the homager): three aimless young people, one of who gets kicked out or has some kind of problem with a gangster "syndicate" as it's mostly called, decide to try some crime and, eventually, rob a bank or something.

I say 'something' not to sound flippant, but because Love is Colder Than Death doesn't give much to the audience aside from total disaffection - there are so many cigarettes here Better Davis at the time probably would've said to them to calm it down a little - and this "cool" attitude, which also includes the distance, at least for the most part. Actually the most interesting actor here is Fassbinder, something about his face and eyes seems to convey things about his uncertainly and yet dedication to a life of crime and/or not doing much at all; it's certainly more than Lommel does, who has one mode the entire film (even when he has a gun to someone in an wreckage field out in the middle of nowhere ready to kill for... a reason I guess, you could've fooled me!) Hannah Schygulla meanwhile, in the first of what would be a long collaboration of films, is fine though seems to not be given much in the way of direction.

I think I'm hard on this because I came to this after seeing so many of his films. It doesn't do much to say criticisms to stymie the director - he's been dead now decades - but I implore newcomers to Fassbinder to not start here, as it could give the wrong impression about his other work. And this is not to say either that there isn't some worthy direction or cinematography or cutting here, and in the last ten minutes, for the climax for what it is, there's some urgency and dread effectively communicated through Fassbinder's Malaise-of-Cinema style. And yet I can't recommend it; there are passages here where we see characters walking for five minutes, or at a supermarket for five minutes walking, or sitting around or playing pinball or seeing buildings go by for five minutes at a stretch at night or I don't know what, and there's nothing interesting about it. I'm fine with minutiae, but you got to try something - and to say Godard didn't work with a script isn't entirely accurate as a comparison basis.

Surprisingly to me, Fassbinder started and ended his career on his least impressive efforts; I couldn't watch it all in one sitting came back to the last 40 minutes a week after starting) as I felt so dulled away by Fassbinder's *anti-cinema*, which I'm sure was the intentional coming from his theater background. And I so wanted to engage with this; it's like the movie is confronting you to try and find something to connect with past its (yes, as the title says) cold exterior.

Fassbinder's first movie - an homage to Film Noir and the French Nouvelle Vague

[winblows89 · 9/10 · 11 September 2005]

A man (Fassbinder himself) is sitting on an armchair, reading the newspaper. Another man walks into frame asks Franz (Fassbinder's character's name) for a cigarette and when he's told 'no!' he takes the newspaper and drops it down on the floor. Franz gets up and beats up the guy. The plot continues: Franz is ordered into this room to work for a criminal syndicate but he wants to be his only chief himself. Franz meets Bruno, a man who works for the syndicate, and they become very good friends. Some days later they meet again and we recognize that Franz is a pimp. Bruno falls in love with Franz' girlfriend (played by Hanna Schygulla) and together they start to rob banks. It is the last coup when Hanna Schygulla calls the police. Bruno is shooten down by some policemen and Fassbinder and Schygulla flee in their car.

The plot is almost as short as Godard's 'Breathless' and I think that that was what Fassbinder really wants to show with this film. When you cinema after seeing this film you don't remember a plot but very much more a feeling - a feeling of social isolation of the main characters, a feeling of loneliness.

In my opinion this is one of the best Fassbinder movies, even if it's not appraised as that good by most of the critics.

Early Fassbinder, pretty rough still

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 4 July 2016]

"Liebe ist kälter als der Tod" is a West German movie from 1969 and writer and director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was in his early 20s still when he shot this movie. It is from extremely early in his career and, just like "Katzelmacher", in black-and-white, a trademark of his early films. And another trademark is that the director appears also as an actor in there, something not too common anymore when Fassbinder moved on, or at least not in the sense that he played crucial characters as he does here. And also just like "Katzelmacher", this film here is fairly short, only 90 minutes and Fassbinder has many longer films in his body of work. The title translated means "Love is Colder than death", which is admittedly a bit pretentious. It is about a triangle relationship. And struggles arise quickly as the two men are also very close friends and their relationship is really much more in the focus than the relationship with the female, played by Hanna Schygulla who worked a lot with Fassbinder. There are other cast members here who also appeared in more Fassbinder films. Fassbinder's films are always more about attraction and about arranging yourself with your feelings, not really about love and this description also fits nicely in here. Because of the small core cast, it is probably also a good choice to play in a theater group or so. Nonetheless, despite the film's success with awards bodies too I must say that I prefer some of Fassbinder's later works over this one here. But this is entirely subjective of course. It looks to me as if he is still looking for his style and needs refinement. He found it. But not yet in this one. Not recommended.

Dark vision of Fassbinder's cinema future

[dirtypearl · 10/10 · 12 March 2006]

The place is Germany 1969. Fassbinder would direct his first full-length atmospheric piece. The film probably only should be viewed by those already interested in his cannon of work. The dry characters and dialogue work well within it's context but for the primitive viewer or the non-convert, this won't win any awards. I had saw the film the first time over a year ago and thought it was OK. I decided to re-watch it last night and walked away with completely a different opinion than before. Fassbinder knew the importance of the non-dialogue scenes and how to make them stand out, with expressionistic photography and stark settings. The music used here in the film is also first rate in adding to the mood. Ulli Lommel, Hanna Schygulla and Katrin Shaake (sp?) are all wonderful here. Fassbinder's role seems to be playing himself, like in all of his work. I rate this film very highly though my favorites of his work are: "Beware of Holy Whore", "Whity" and "Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant".

Low energy cinema....at its worst

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 3 May 2017]

Rainer Werner Fassbinder is the sort of filmmaker film experts and 'smart people' love...but is a filmmaker the average person would quickly dismiss as pretentious and boring. I would generally put myself in the latter group, though he did make a few excellent low budget films (such as "Ali, Fear Eats the Soul"). In general, however, I find his movies incredibly dull...very, very low energy and made as if everyone involved with the project were heavily sedated! "Love is Colder Than Death" is worse, however....like they are not just sedated but practically comatose! Imagine...a gangster film where everyone, especially the crooks, are asleep!!

The story is scant. Suffice to say it's about a trio who commit crimes and Bruno ends up killing a lot of folks with zero emotion, zero energy and, as a result, zero interest by someone watching the movie. They exist...they don't live.

The bottom line is that this is a dull, pretentious sort of artsy picture. I hate such films. I would MUCH prefer film noir or French film noir (such as a film by Melville)...not this slow as molasses and uninvolving low budget crap. It's just plain boring...even when one of the character takes off her clothes!

It will hit You

[m67165 · 1 May 2003]

This is movie is rather cold in its humor. It is very much dated in its style, but somehow manages to come across as very true to some angst that may well be part of the collective unconscious. You can see that they had not much money to do it, and that they did not mind to let it show. Maybe not for every viewer, but certainly a treat if you like the craziest movies of that time.

amateurish and lame

[atsab_99 · 2/10 · 3 August 2005]

this movie sucked. it's got a halfassed scenario which seems to be invented solely for the purposes of a young man (RWF) to make himself look cool and show a chick's tits.

The scenery is bleak and the dialogue dull/forced. The whole time the three main characters constantly try to act cool, in a very dated way. There is occasional action, and it is staged very poorly. Gunshots/punching sounds are never timed right, and one scene even fully shows a guy getting shot, without any puncturing or bleeding. He just wiggles around to the soundtrack of gun noises.

You could say "the pacing is slow", but that would be an understatement. Often there is nothing going on for several minutes... one scene in particular presents RWF and co. walking down a road, smoking, not saying anything, for 3 minutes. Lots of stuff like this. These guys clearly didn't know what they were doing. Extremely unprofessional... I wonder how many of his early films are just him and his friends running around, being boring?

If you're a hardcore Fassbinder fan, i guess it might give you a kick to see his painful first efforts. I would stick to later, more figured-out stuff, or the enjoyable first 2 short films.

A stepping stone for Rainer Werner Fassbinder for better movies

[jordondave-28085 · 5/10 · 17 April 2023]

(1969) Love is Colder Than Death/ Liebe ist kälter als der Tod (In German with English subtitles) CRIME DRAMA

First actual film from Rainer Werner Fassbinder who also stars in it. He plays Franz Walsch who after refusing to work for the syndicate befriends another member the syndicate also attempt to initiate. His name is Bruno (Ulli Lommel), and after Franz was let go early, Bruno then goes on a searching rant to locate Bruno, and finally finds him hanging around with his long time girlfriend living in a brothel, her name is Johanna (Hanna Schygulla), except that Bruno has very much changed to becoming cold blooded as they go on a double crossing and killing rant. As a matter of fact, it's more like the low budget equivalent of "Band Of the Outsiders". Jules and Jim and Jean Pierre Melivile's Le Samorai movie.