"Bolwieser" - so the original title of Fassbinder's two-part TV production as well as the title of the novel by Oskar Maria Graf which Fassbinder used, is the station-master of Werburg, a small upper-Bavarian town, in the 20ies. He married the beautiful daughter of the local brewery-owner. Not so splendidly looking himself, he is sexually depending on her and likes to submit himself to her commands. He reads every wish from her eyes and is awarded with contempt. For him, it seems that the position he has reached in life is just his dream come true; so, he is without ambition and quite content in his little world.
However, his seeming happiness breaks when his wife starts having affairs with several men in town. Although Bolwieser is aware that people are already gossiping that his wife has been seen nightly going ín or coming out of the neighbors' houses, he keeps quiet: Franz Xaverl Bolwieser is an almost Austrian soul, one of the last representatives of the K.u.K. monarchy that fell apart with the famous shot in 1914 in Sarajevo. So, although he is a German, he has not a ghost of a doubt that this possible infamy of his wife is the will of a higher instance - exactly as it had been the will of this higher instance to make him the station-master of Werburg. Bolwieser even swears a false oath in order to protect his wife from their neighbors. However, when his wife leaves one of her lovers, this lover reports Bolwieser at the police for having sworn a false oath. Now, there is the moment for his wife to let him down for ever: in court, she takes party for the lover, and Bolwiser is sentenced to four years in prison. Being absolutely sure of her husbands faithfulness towards her, Bolwieser's wife even sends him an already filled form which he has only to sign: his agreement for divorce. Mechanically like a puppet, we see Bolweiser put his signature on the sheet of paper and expressing to the guard his polite wish that he might go soon back into his cell. "Bolwieser" belongs - together with "Faustrecht der Freiheit" (English title: "Fox and his friends") to the group of "men"-movies of Fassbinder, which are less known then his "women"-movies around the figures of Lola, Lili Marleen, Veronika Voss and Maria Braun. While in "Fox", we see a man being destroyed in a homosexual relationship, in "Bolwieser", we recognize for once in Fassbinder's work a woman destroying a man who is unable to defend himself.
However, his seeming happiness breaks when his wife starts having affairs with several men in town. Although Bolwieser is aware that people are already gossiping that his wife has been seen nightly going ín or coming out of the neighbors' houses, he keeps quiet: Franz Xaverl Bolwieser is an almost Austrian soul, one of the last representatives of the K.u.K. monarchy that fell apart with the famous shot in 1914 in Sarajevo. So, although he is a German, he has not a ghost of a doubt that this possible infamy of his wife is the will of a higher instance - exactly as it had been the will of this higher instance to make him the station-master of Werburg. Bolwieser even swears a false oath in order to protect his wife from their neighbors. However, when his wife leaves one of her lovers, this lover reports Bolwieser at the police for having sworn a false oath. Now, there is the moment for his wife to let him down for ever: in court, she takes party for the lover, and Bolwiser is sentenced to four years in prison. Being absolutely sure of her husbands faithfulness towards her, Bolwieser's wife even sends him an already filled form which he has only to sign: his agreement for divorce. Mechanically like a puppet, we see Bolweiser put his signature on the sheet of paper and expressing to the guard his polite wish that he might go soon back into his cell. "Bolwieser" belongs - together with "Faustrecht der Freiheit" (English title: "Fox and his friends") to the group of "men"-movies of Fassbinder, which are less known then his "women"-movies around the figures of Lola, Lili Marleen, Veronika Voss and Maria Braun. While in "Fox", we see a man being destroyed in a homosexual relationship, in "Bolwieser", we recognize for once in Fassbinder's work a woman destroying a man who is unable to defend himself.