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Chinese Roulette

Country: Germany, Language: German, 96 mins

Original Title

Chinesisches Roulette
  • Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
  • Writer: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
  • Producer: Michael Fengler; Barbet Schroeder

CGiii Comment

We watched this with a Fassbinder fanatic - brought in specifically to educate us on the 'supposed' genius of this rather frustrated and frustrating auteur.

As he fanatically screamed 'genius' at the screen - the rest of us fell quite quickly asleep.

When a filmmaker like Fassbinder needs a fanatical fan for the sole purpose of spreading appreciation - then, the aforementioned filmmaker has managed to insert his head up his own fatuous orifice...

We have now watched Fassbinder's entire catalogue and we can conclusively state that - in his short and overly productive career - Fassbinder managed to exorcise his head from his orifice on two and a half occasions.

This, alas, was not one of those occasions.


Trailer...

 

The(ir) Blurb...

A wealthy couple, with a daughter Angela, a young teen who walks with crutches, tells each other they are off for the weekend on business (he to Oslo, she to Milan). Actually, both are meeting their lovers, and both go to the family's county home, Traunitz castle. Surprising each other, there's sophisticated laughter; they decide to continue as planned. Dinner, however, is interrupted by the arrival of Angela and her mute attendant, also named Traunitz. The next day, the child initiates a game of "Chinese roulette," in which one team tries to guess which of them the other team is thinking of by asking questions. The game has an edge of cruelty and the results are explosive.

Cast & Characters

Anna Karina as Irene Cartis;
Margit Carstensen as Ariane Christ;
Brigitte Mira as Kast;
Ulli Lommel as Kolbe;
Alexander Allerson as Gerhard Christ;
Volker Spengler as Gabriel Kast;
Andrea Schober as Angela Christ;
Macha Meril as Traunitz;
Roland Henschke as Beggar;
Armin Meier as Man at service station;
Erik Schumann as Voice of Gerhard Christ