The scenario is promising: a manipulative crippled daughter, estranged parents and their new lovers, the promise of a game of Chinese roulette, potentially sinister or magical caretakers of a mansion... There were so many interesting things that might have happened... Perhaps with a mid-script overhaul this could have been a cool horror movie.
But the finished product is a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. The cast are like a bunch of stilted marionettes staring at each other, saying abstract things.
People behave like directionless props; there's no tension or drama, and nobody cares. I believe there may have been some kind of master plan at work here, but something got sucked out of it between concept and page and the whole thing is just empty and pointless.
A movie with great potential, but it needed about 12 more rewrites than Fassbinder gave it.
But the finished product is a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. The cast are like a bunch of stilted marionettes staring at each other, saying abstract things.
People behave like directionless props; there's no tension or drama, and nobody cares. I believe there may have been some kind of master plan at work here, but something got sucked out of it between concept and page and the whole thing is just empty and pointless.
A movie with great potential, but it needed about 12 more rewrites than Fassbinder gave it.