Berlin Alexanderplatz 1
1980-10-12 | Drama | 14 episodes2 Seasons
Episode
The Punishment Begins (1980)
In 1928 Berlin, Franz Biberkopf is released after serving four years in Tegel prison for killing his girlfriend Ida. After settling into his old apartment he visits Minna, Ida’s sister. Minna succumbs to his forceful advances. In a flashback we see Franz kill Ida with a cream whip after suspecting she was going to leave him. Franz later runs into his old friend Meck and has a drink with him in Max’s bar, a local place. There he meets a young Polish woman named Lina who moves in with him.
Directed By
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Writer
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
How is One to Live if One Doesn’t Want to Die? (1980)
Franz employs himself by hocking tie holders on the street but has trouble making enough money. He is talked into selling the fascist newspaper Völkischer Beobachter and wearing a swastika armband. At Max’s bar, Franz is confronted by an old acquaintance named Dreske. Dreske and his friends sing “The Internationale” to provoke Franz. They nearly come to blows before Franz collapses in a fit.
Directed By
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Writer
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
A Hammer Blow to the Head Can Injure the Soul (1980)
Lina is troubled by the shady nature of the jobs Franz is getting and has him meet a family friend, Otto Lüders, who has Franz join him selling shoelaces door-to-door. In one apartment, Franz encounters a woman whose deceased husband he closely resembles. He has sex with the widow and later tells Otto. Otto goes to the widow’s flat and attempts to seduce her, but she rejects him. Otto extorts money and steals from her in response. When Franz goes back to the widow, happily expecting another tryst, she angrily rejects him. Distraught, Franz runs away to live at a boarding-house while Meck and Lina search for him.
Directed By
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Writer
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
A Handful of People in the Depths of Silence (1980)
Franz goes on an alcohol binge as a former medical orderly looks over him. He runs into Meck on the street one day. Meck had been living with Lina until she left him.
Directed By
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Writer
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
A Reaper with the Power of Our Lord (1980)
Franz becomes re-acquainted with Eva, for whom he used to be a pimp and who feels a deep affection for him. At Max’s, Meck introduces Franz to Pums, the ringleader of an illegal enterprise. He also meets Reinhold, one of Pums’s men. Reinhold is tired of his woman, Fränze, and wants Franz to take her off his hands. Franz has her come over and makes love with her. She returns to him after she can’t find Reinhold. Reinhold then employs the same plan with his current woman, Cilly, whom Franz accommodates after getting rid of Fränze.
Directed By
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Writer
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast
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