Berlin Alexanderplatz (miniseries)

Berlin Alexanderplatz
Directed by	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Written by	Rainer Werner Fassbinder Alfred Döblin (the novel Berlin Alexanderplatz)
Starring	Günter Lamprecht Hanna Schygulla Barbara Sukowa Elisabeth Trissenaar
Release date	1980
Running time	USA: 931 min West Germany:894 min
Language	German

Originally broadcast in 1980, this television mini-series was adapted and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and starred Günter Lamprecht, Hanna Schygulla, Barbara Sukowa, Elisabeth Trissenaar and Gottfried John. The complete series was 15½ hours long.[1].

The TV series was released as a film in the United States, and has attained cult status. It was available on VHS in the 1980's and was broadcast on PBS in the 1980's, but has been rarely seen since. Rumors of a DVD release have been circulating for many years, but it is unclear if these are true or not. (As of 2006, there is still no DVD of Fassbinder's series.)

Episodes

Episode Guide
Nr.	Title	Premiere (DE)	Running Time
1	The punishment begins.	12.10. 1980	82
2	How one should live if one does not want to die.	3.10. 1980	59
3	A hammer on the head can injure the soul.	20.10. 1980	59
4	A handful of people in the the depths of silence.	27.10. 1980	59
5	A mower with the violence of the dear Lord.	3.11. 1980	59
6	A love, that costs so much.	10.11. 1980	58
7	Remember: You can amputate a tumour.	17.11. 1980	58
8	The sun warms the skin that it sometimes burns.	24.11. 1980	58
9	From eternity, between the many and the few.	1.12. 1980	59
10	Loneliness tears also cracks of insanity in walls.	8.12. 1980	59
11	Knowledge is power and the early bird that catches the worm has gold in its mouth.	15.12. 1980	59
12	The snake in the soul of the snake.	22.12. 1980	59
13	The external, the internal, and the secret of fearing the secret.	29.12. 1980	58
14	My dream from the dream of Franz Biberkopf von Alfred Doeblin: An Epilogue	29.12. 1980	112

Cast

Actor/Actress	Role
Günter Lamprecht	Franz Biberkopf
Elisabeth Trissenaar	Lina
Karin Baal	Minna
Franz Buchrieser	Meck
Roger Fritz	Herbert
Hanna Schygulla	Eva
Brigitte Mira	Frau Bast
Barbara Valentin	Ida
Ivan Desny	Pums
Annemarie Düringer	Cilly
Barbara Sukowa	Mieze
Gottfried John	Reinhold
Volker Spengler	Bruno
Günther Kaufmann	Theo
Vitus Zeplichal	Rudi
Claus Holm	Wirt
Hans Michael Rehberg	Kommissar
Lilo Pempeit	Frau Pums
Elma Karlowa	Frau Greiner

Restoration

In 2005, the German Cultural Institute, having completed the reconstruction and restoration of Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin, decided to restore Berlin Alexanderplatz, saying that the original film negative was in "catastrophic physical condition" and that it "must be restored."

The restoration is expected to be complete by 2007, exactly 25 years after Fassbinder's death. The film will play as a prelude to a retrospective of Fassbinder's work at the Berlin International Film Festival. Accompanying this re-release will be a book that includes the original screenplay for Berlin Alexanderplatz, original drawings, selections from Döblin's novel, as well as selected reviews of the film.

Trivia

• Production took nearly a year
• Fassbinder dreamed of making a "parallel" movie specifically for theatrical distribution after the completion of this film. The cast list he made included Gerard Depardieu as Franz Biberkopf and Isabelle Adjani as Mieze.
• In the United States, it was first shown on public television. Then, theatres would play two episodes a night as so-called "theatre installments".
• Mentioned in the cult series The Critic.
• Inspired the TV series Freaks and Geeks, also about misfits and outsiders but set in an early 1980s American high school.

External Links

• Berlin Alexanderplatz at the Fassbinder Foundation
• Berlin Alexanderplatz Remastered
• Berlin Alexanderplatz at IMDb