Chinese Roulette
Encyclopedia
Chinese Roulette is a 1976
German
film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
. It stars Margit Carstensen
, Ulli Lommel
and Anna Karina
. The film, a bleak psychological drama, centers on a truth guessing game, which gives the film its title. The plot follows a bourgeois married couple whose infidelities are exposed by their disabled child.
The Christ’s family rural estate is run by a sinister housekeeper named Kast and her sexually ambiguous, son Gabriel. While Kast, a cruel and cranky old woman, is irritated by the visit of her employers, her son Gabriel, a pretentious aspiring writer, is hoping to exploit Gerhard's connections to get his work published. Upon entering the house with his lover Irene, Gerhard runs to the living room, only to find, Ariane on the floor with her lover, Kolbe, Gerhard’s assistant. The two couples try to overcome the uncomfortable situation and are able to laugh about the absurdity of it. They all have dinner together and, over coffee, Gabriel is allowed to read from the philosophical book he has written. He is interrupted by the arrival of Angela, who secretly planned this encounter out of hate for her parents lack of affection. She shows up with her mute governess, Traunitz and a small army of grotesque dolls. Ariane is furious with the antics of her daughter and tries to hit her but Gerhard does not allow her. Angela is defiant and on their part the two adulterous couples decide to continue as planned.
Angela tells Gabriel that her disability originated with her parents infidelities. Eleven years before when her father started her relationship with his mistress, Angela’s illness appeared and when her mother begun an affair with Kolbe, the doctors declared Angela’s condition as hopeless. However Kast, later dismissed the child’s allegation as nonsense. The next morning Angela goes from room to room to say good morning to her parents and finds them naked with their respective lovers.
During the day as the adulterous Christs come to terms with their respective infidelities, Angela tries to play them and their lovers off each other.
The stage is laid for a night of suspenseful revelation when Angela, on the second night, suggests playing Chinese Roulette, a psychologically guessing game, tinged with cruelty. In Chinese Roulette, one team tries to guess which of them the other team is thinking of by asking questions. Angela selects the members of each team. In one side are: Gerhardt, Angela, Gabriel and Traunitz. On the other are: Ariane, Katz, Irene and Kolbe. Arianes’s team asks the questions and Angela’s team gives the answers. The game has an edge of cruelty and the results are explosive involving everyone in the chateau.
The deadliest and final question posed is "What would this person be in the Third Reich?" Caught off guard by the hostility of Angela's response of saying she would be a commandant of a concentration camp, the mother shoots Traunitz--which turns out to be only a superficial flesh wound. Irritated by Gabriel Angela tells him that for the last two years she has known that he has plagiarized every word he has written.
The film ends in mystery as a second shot is heard in the darkened house, but the identity of the shooter and the victim is left to the viewer's imagination.
in Unterfranken that belonged to Fassbinder's cinematographer, Michael Ballhaus
.
The cast is formed by actors from Fassbinder's regular troupe: Margit Carstensen
, Brigitte Mira
, Volker Spengler
and Ulli Lommel
. Being a French co production Fassbinder used two French stars: Anna Karina
and Macha Méril
, both of whom had earlier appeared in the films of Jean-Luc Godard
. Fassbinder added another German actor, Alexander Allerson. There are few children in Fassbinder's films. The bitter disabled daughter is played by Andrea Schober who Fassbinder cast earlier in The Merchant of the Four Seasons (1972) also as witness of her parents infidelities.
. Criticism centered on the cold intellectualism of the film. American critic Andrew Sarris
devoted an entire university course to the analysis of Chinese Roulette.
1976 in film
The year 1976 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars science fiction film...
German
Cinema of Germany
Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film.Unlike any other national cinemas, which developed in the context of relatively continuous and stable political systems, Germany witnesses major changes to its...
film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
. It stars Margit Carstensen
Margit Carstensen
Margit Carstensen is a German theatre and film actress, best known outside Germany for roles in the works of film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.-Theater career:...
, Ulli Lommel
Ulli Lommel
Ulli Lommel , is a German actor and director, noted for his many horror films, and for his career as an actor on Rainer Werner Fassbinder's films.-Career:...
and Anna Karina
Anna Karina
Anna Karina is a Danish film actress, director, and screenwriter who has spent most of her working life in France. Karina is known as a muse of the director, Jean-Luc Godard, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave...
. The film, a bleak psychological drama, centers on a truth guessing game, which gives the film its title. The plot follows a bourgeois married couple whose infidelities are exposed by their disabled child.
Plot
Ariane and Gerhard Christ, a wealthy Munich couple, are packing before going off for the weekend, which each intends to spend separately abroad. While away, their twelve-year-old daughter Angela, who is disabled and walks with crutches, has to remain home under the care of her governess, Traunitz. Actually, the couple have lied about their travel intentions. Convinced that his wife and daughter are elsewhere, Gerhard takes his longtime French hairdresser mistress Irene Cartis on a weekend tryst to the family's country house.The Christ’s family rural estate is run by a sinister housekeeper named Kast and her sexually ambiguous, son Gabriel. While Kast, a cruel and cranky old woman, is irritated by the visit of her employers, her son Gabriel, a pretentious aspiring writer, is hoping to exploit Gerhard's connections to get his work published. Upon entering the house with his lover Irene, Gerhard runs to the living room, only to find, Ariane on the floor with her lover, Kolbe, Gerhard’s assistant. The two couples try to overcome the uncomfortable situation and are able to laugh about the absurdity of it. They all have dinner together and, over coffee, Gabriel is allowed to read from the philosophical book he has written. He is interrupted by the arrival of Angela, who secretly planned this encounter out of hate for her parents lack of affection. She shows up with her mute governess, Traunitz and a small army of grotesque dolls. Ariane is furious with the antics of her daughter and tries to hit her but Gerhard does not allow her. Angela is defiant and on their part the two adulterous couples decide to continue as planned.
Angela tells Gabriel that her disability originated with her parents infidelities. Eleven years before when her father started her relationship with his mistress, Angela’s illness appeared and when her mother begun an affair with Kolbe, the doctors declared Angela’s condition as hopeless. However Kast, later dismissed the child’s allegation as nonsense. The next morning Angela goes from room to room to say good morning to her parents and finds them naked with their respective lovers.
During the day as the adulterous Christs come to terms with their respective infidelities, Angela tries to play them and their lovers off each other.
The stage is laid for a night of suspenseful revelation when Angela, on the second night, suggests playing Chinese Roulette, a psychologically guessing game, tinged with cruelty. In Chinese Roulette, one team tries to guess which of them the other team is thinking of by asking questions. Angela selects the members of each team. In one side are: Gerhardt, Angela, Gabriel and Traunitz. On the other are: Ariane, Katz, Irene and Kolbe. Arianes’s team asks the questions and Angela’s team gives the answers. The game has an edge of cruelty and the results are explosive involving everyone in the chateau.
The deadliest and final question posed is "What would this person be in the Third Reich?" Caught off guard by the hostility of Angela's response of saying she would be a commandant of a concentration camp, the mother shoots Traunitz--which turns out to be only a superficial flesh wound. Irritated by Gabriel Angela tells him that for the last two years she has known that he has plagiarized every word he has written.
The film ends in mystery as a second shot is heard in the darkened house, but the identity of the shooter and the victim is left to the viewer's imagination.
Cast
- Anna KarinaAnna KarinaAnna Karina is a Danish film actress, director, and screenwriter who has spent most of her working life in France. Karina is known as a muse of the director, Jean-Luc Godard, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave...
- Irene Cartis - Margit CarstensenMargit CarstensenMargit Carstensen is a German theatre and film actress, best known outside Germany for roles in the works of film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.-Theater career:...
- Ariane Christ - Brigitte MiraBrigitte MiraBrigitte Mira was a German actress. She worked in both theater and film, often with Rainer Werner Fassbinder....
- Kast - Ulli LommelUlli LommelUlli Lommel , is a German actor and director, noted for his many horror films, and for his career as an actor on Rainer Werner Fassbinder's films.-Career:...
- Kolbe - Alexander Allerson - Gerhard Christ
- Volker SpenglerVolker SpenglerVolker Spengler is a German actor who was one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's key collaborators.His most noted role with Fassbinder was as the transsexual Erwin/Elvira of the film In a Year of 13 Moons ....
- Gabriel Kast - Andrea Schober - Angela Christ
- Macha MérilMacha MérilMacha Méril, born Princess Maria-Magdalena Vladimirovna Gagarina on 3 September 1940, Rabat, Morocco, is a French actress and writer, descended by her father from the Russian princely house Gagarin and by her mother from a Ukrainian noble family...
- Traunitz
Production
Chinese Roulette was Fassbinder's first international co-production and his most expensive film up to that point. It was produced by Michael Fengler's Albatros Production, Les Films du Losange and Tango Films. It was shot during seven weeks between April and June 1976. The location for the country house where the story takes places was actually a small castle at StockachStockach
Stockach is a town in the district of Konstanz, in southern Baden-Württemberg, Germany.-Location:It is situated in the Hegau region, about 5 km northwest of Lake Constance, 13 km north of Radolfzell and 25 km northwest of Konstanz....
in Unterfranken that belonged to Fassbinder's cinematographer, Michael Ballhaus
Michael Ballhaus
Michael Ballhaus, A.S.C. is a German cinematographer. In 1990, he was the Head of the Jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.- Life and career :...
.
The cast is formed by actors from Fassbinder's regular troupe: Margit Carstensen
Margit Carstensen
Margit Carstensen is a German theatre and film actress, best known outside Germany for roles in the works of film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.-Theater career:...
, Brigitte Mira
Brigitte Mira
Brigitte Mira was a German actress. She worked in both theater and film, often with Rainer Werner Fassbinder....
, Volker Spengler
Volker Spengler
Volker Spengler is a German actor who was one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's key collaborators.His most noted role with Fassbinder was as the transsexual Erwin/Elvira of the film In a Year of 13 Moons ....
and Ulli Lommel
Ulli Lommel
Ulli Lommel , is a German actor and director, noted for his many horror films, and for his career as an actor on Rainer Werner Fassbinder's films.-Career:...
. Being a French co production Fassbinder used two French stars: Anna Karina
Anna Karina
Anna Karina is a Danish film actress, director, and screenwriter who has spent most of her working life in France. Karina is known as a muse of the director, Jean-Luc Godard, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave...
and Macha Méril
Macha Méril
Macha Méril, born Princess Maria-Magdalena Vladimirovna Gagarina on 3 September 1940, Rabat, Morocco, is a French actress and writer, descended by her father from the Russian princely house Gagarin and by her mother from a Ukrainian noble family...
, both of whom had earlier appeared in the films of Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
. Fassbinder added another German actor, Alexander Allerson. There are few children in Fassbinder's films. The bitter disabled daughter is played by Andrea Schober who Fassbinder cast earlier in The Merchant of the Four Seasons (1972) also as witness of her parents infidelities.
Reception
A sophisticated and stylish cinematic physiological game, Chinese Roulette was coldly received in West GermanyWest Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. Criticism centered on the cold intellectualism of the film. American critic Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris is an American film critic and a leading proponent of the auteur theory of criticism.-Career:Sarris is generally credited with popularizing the auteur theory in the U.S...
devoted an entire university course to the analysis of Chinese Roulette.