Poet and anarchist Baal lives in an attic and reads his poems to cab drivers. At first feted and later rejected by bourgeois society, Baal roams through forests and along motorways, greedy for schnapps, cigarettes, women and men: ‘You have to let out the beast, let him out into the sunlight.’ After impregnating a young actress he soon comes to regard her as a millstone round his neck. After the premiere in 1970 film Baal was prohibited and disappeared in the archives for more than 40 years. This year the restored version appeared.
About the film
Details
- Running time
- 1 hr. 25 min.
- Country, year
- Germany, 1969
- Genre
- Drama
- Language
- German
- Subtitles
- Lithuanian, English
- Age rating
- N/A
Credits
- Director
- Volker Schlöndorff
- Screenplay
- Volker Schlöndorff
- Cinematography
- Dietrich Lohmann
- Music
- Klaus Doldinger
- Cast
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Sigi Graue, Margarethe von Trotta, Hanna Schygulla, Marian Seidowsky, Günther Neutze
- More information
- www.imdb.com
Festivals and awards
- selected for Berlinale Special programme.
Director
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1939. He moved to France in 1956 and graduated in political science at the Sorbonne and film at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques in Paris. Worked as assistant director. His 1965 film Young Törless marked the first international success for New German Cinema. Other films include The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975), Germany in Autumn (1978), The Circle of Deceit (1981), Death of a Salesman (1985). The Tin Drum won the 1979 Palme d’Or in Cannes and an Oscar. He has also directed theatre and opera productions.
