Veronika Voss"Light and shadows are the secrets of all motion pictures"; these words are spoken by Veronika Voss (Rosel Zech), the star of the film which shares her name. Veronika Voss is a reflection of the film industry, a woman who has become a construct of her own stardom, imprisoned by her own legacy. Veronika Voss is possessed by film; she tells a good samaritan who helps her in the rain--Robert Krohn (Hilmar Thate)--she claims she fears being recognized, when in reality she fears not being recognized more. She longs to be in the limelight once more, but is haunted by the shadows of her past, themes suggested even in the title sequence, a throwback to the golden age of cinema.
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Veronika Voss is a part of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "BRD Trilogy", although it is arguably the most unusual of the three. Aside from being shot in black and white, Veronika Voss (the character) ultimately proves to be in a fluctuating state between artificial stability and rapid disintegration. It would not be enough to say that she was touched by Robert's selfless act, but that she felt a longing for real human contact she had been denied for so long. She tracks him down and invites him for cocktails and appears to try to seduce him, only to pull a grift on him to get a hold of three hundred marks, something Robert's rightfully suspicious girlfriend, Henriette (Cornelia Froboess) chides him about. Robert never seems to express any kind of romantic attraction to Veronika--it is also unlikely that he is starstruck, since he didn't (and doesn't really) recognize her--but he is drawn into her vortex, likely on the part of his journalistic profession and inquisitive mindset. Robert has generally been assigned to write about sports stories, although he writes poetry drawn from his dreams as a hobby, so it is clear that his professional writing has left him unsatisfied. Robert journeys down the rabbit hole to investigate more about the enigma that is Veronika Voss, and discovers he is left with more questions than answers, after he is given vague generalizations about her treatment from Dr. Marianne Katz (Annemarie Düringer), who has been secretly keeping Veronika addicted to morphine to sway her into making her the heiress to Voss' fortune. Helplessly hooked on the drugs which are destroying her, Veronika claws to stay in pictures, accepting miniscule parts which her pride would never have previously allowed herself to undertake. The film was heavily inspired by the tragic story of German actress, Sybille Schmitz, whose own experiences in the film industry of Germany--before, during, and after World War II--as well as her depression and eventual addiction to morphine supplied by an unscrupulous doctor formed the basis of this story. Veronika Voss is filled with curious scenes--but ones which express a crucial component of the story--such as the opening scene where the actress is at the movies, watching a scene where a patient begs her cruel doctor for morphine, and the doctor extorts her for it; the actress is none other than Veronica Voss. Is this scene real, or is it in her imagination? The implications of it if it is "real"--and what is real in movies?--is that Veronika has knowingly entered into an arrangement with Dr. Katz and effectively recreated her cinematic persona in herself in a supreme act of vanity, willing to sacrifice herself on the altar of her own image.
Veronika cannot really differentiate when she is acting in life, and when she is alive in her acting. She behaves more like a character than a person, and puts on a performance for Robert, for the police, and in her dreams even for herself. Although her presentation is artificial, Robert's investigation turns to obsession, as he follows her along her descent. Veronika shows up at his and his girlfriend's apartment and brazenly asks Robert to spend the night with her; shockingly, Robert goes with her, and they sleep together. This happens off-stage, and there is no indication of any real passion. After he accidentally breaks a vase of hers, she sends him to have it replaced by a specific dealer. When Robert--and Henriette, believe it or not--pay a visit to the purveyors of the vases, it is discovered that the elderly couple Robert met outside Dr. Katz's office are the same who supply these vases. They speak in cryptic phrases, and insinuate to Henriette that they know Veronika, or share a mutual acquaintance. Between Veronika's behavior and Robert's witness of the elderly couple at Dr. Katz's, his investigative cunning sets him on the track of a despicable medical plot to addict rich people on morphine, so that Katz can bleed them as dry and devoid of life as the sterile walls within her office. This despicable plot is something of the antithesis of the "economic miracle" of Germany in the Fifties--a consistent theme in Fassbinder's trilogy. The other entries showcase powerful women exercising their cunning (and even ruthlessness) to advance in the world; but whereas in The Marriage of Maria Braun and Lola this is true for the protagonists, in Veronika Voss, it is Dr. Katz who succeeds in this capacity, with our star as the victim. The conspiracy of Veronika Voss--along with a fateful car accident and the occasional selections of music--shares similarities with another post-World War II film, The Third Man. Another obvious influence on Veronika Voss is Sunset Boulevard; Veronika Voss is a mirror of Norma Desmond, increasingly displaced from reality, obsessed with her fading stardom...she even has an ex-husband who worked with her and built her career up, also coincidentally named Max (Armin Mueller-Stahl). When Veronika proves to be more trouble than she's worth (to those in the film who categorize her thus), she is thrown a "farewell party", a tribute to herself where all of our major players in the film miraculously show up, as she sings "Memories Are Made of This" in English, including characters who one would doubt would actually be present. It becomes suspiciously evident that this party is a product of her shattered mind; but for Veronika Voss--and Veronika Voss--reality steps aside so that the pervading fantasy of film may overtake it.
Recommended for: Fans of a knowingly aware film of stardom and classic movies, as well as the stars who have fallen into obscurity. The movie echos film noir--and classics of the genre--but is an intriguing tale of the perils of an ego grown too big to support the human frame it must contain.
Veronika cannot really differentiate when she is acting in life, and when she is alive in her acting. She behaves more like a character than a person, and puts on a performance for Robert, for the police, and in her dreams even for herself. Although her presentation is artificial, Robert's investigation turns to obsession, as he follows her along her descent. Veronika shows up at his and his girlfriend's apartment and brazenly asks Robert to spend the night with her; shockingly, Robert goes with her, and they sleep together. This happens off-stage, and there is no indication of any real passion. After he accidentally breaks a vase of hers, she sends him to have it replaced by a specific dealer. When Robert--and Henriette, believe it or not--pay a visit to the purveyors of the vases, it is discovered that the elderly couple Robert met outside Dr. Katz's office are the same who supply these vases. They speak in cryptic phrases, and insinuate to Henriette that they know Veronika, or share a mutual acquaintance. Between Veronika's behavior and Robert's witness of the elderly couple at Dr. Katz's, his investigative cunning sets him on the track of a despicable medical plot to addict rich people on morphine, so that Katz can bleed them as dry and devoid of life as the sterile walls within her office. This despicable plot is something of the antithesis of the "economic miracle" of Germany in the Fifties--a consistent theme in Fassbinder's trilogy. The other entries showcase powerful women exercising their cunning (and even ruthlessness) to advance in the world; but whereas in The Marriage of Maria Braun and Lola this is true for the protagonists, in Veronika Voss, it is Dr. Katz who succeeds in this capacity, with our star as the victim. The conspiracy of Veronika Voss--along with a fateful car accident and the occasional selections of music--shares similarities with another post-World War II film, The Third Man. Another obvious influence on Veronika Voss is Sunset Boulevard; Veronika Voss is a mirror of Norma Desmond, increasingly displaced from reality, obsessed with her fading stardom...she even has an ex-husband who worked with her and built her career up, also coincidentally named Max (Armin Mueller-Stahl). When Veronika proves to be more trouble than she's worth (to those in the film who categorize her thus), she is thrown a "farewell party", a tribute to herself where all of our major players in the film miraculously show up, as she sings "Memories Are Made of This" in English, including characters who one would doubt would actually be present. It becomes suspiciously evident that this party is a product of her shattered mind; but for Veronika Voss--and Veronika Voss--reality steps aside so that the pervading fantasy of film may overtake it.
Recommended for: Fans of a knowingly aware film of stardom and classic movies, as well as the stars who have fallen into obscurity. The movie echos film noir--and classics of the genre--but is an intriguing tale of the perils of an ego grown too big to support the human frame it must contain.