Lola

R

1982

1h 55m

Drama

List

93%

15 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Von Bohm (Armin Mueller-Stahl) comes to a city in West Germany to be the new head of building inspection. He is intent on following the letter of the law, even with rapid development and extensive construction activity. Gradually, he becomes enamored with Mary-Louise (Barbara Sukowa), but does not know she is "Lola," a singer at a brothel, until he arrives for an inspection there. Von Bohm also doesn't realize that she is also involved with a rival, the developer Schukert (Mario Adorf).

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dave s

Lola, the third and final instalment in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's BRD Trilogy, tells the story of Von Bohm (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a highly principled building inspector who arrives in a small West German city after WW2 to oversee the reconstruction of the community. Unknown to him, the city is filled with bureaucratic corruption and vice, centered primarily around a brothel that employs the alluring Lola (Barbara Sukowa), a woman intrigued with the new arrival in town. The movie is a visual feast that features a beautiful and creative color palette and some wildly inventive lighting. On top of that, the always reliable Mueller-Stahl gives a fantastic performance. However, like many of Fassbinder's films, it is difficult to warm up to most of the characters who, for some inexplicable reason, feel very two-dimensional. Despite this, it remains an intriguing look at and condemnation of politics in post-WW2 Germany.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Fassbinder's vision in this movie, capitalism is an economic system in which everything is for sale, including integrity, and prostitution is its metaphor.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I really didn't find much of the 'hilarious' humor in this movie. I don't really find Fassbinder particularly humorous, and I'm guessing those who do are a little 'off'. It's fine, Armin Mueller-Stahl is good as usual. Adorf is great as a smarmy scumbag politico. 3.3 stars

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The story and the script are actually good, the lightning of the movie is quite experimental and therefore turned out to be act more in an irritating way instead of adding value. The camera spends too much time describing the life in brothel instead of storytelling. Lola our main actor is not the best choice when it comes to movie acting. A movie that may have been valued at the time of making but it's easily forgettable now.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

scott s

Vividly shot and masterfully executed from start to finish, Fassbinder continues to weave a compelling story while criticizing the capitalistic culture.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

william k

Excellently produced, unusually stylized, but not quite original tale with a cast of Germany's foremost actors is at best when recreating the post-war atmosphere.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Director

Barbara Sukowa

Lola

Armin Mueller-Stahl

Von Bohm

Mario Adorf

Schukert

Matthias Fuchs

Esslin

Helga Feddersen

Frau Hettich

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Richard Brody

New Yorker

The self-aware candor of the actors' efforts converges with Fassbinder's cinema of consciousness, not cynical or knowing cinema but a critical one...

Feb 13, 2021

Full Review

Bruce McCabe

Boston Globe

"Lola" is indelibly, ineffably Fassbinder, a demanding, compelling film that virtually imposes a reaction on its viewer. To realize that the intelligence behind these images has been stilled is to be truly saddened.

Apr 27, 2018

Full Review

Vincent Canby

New York Times

A bitter, brisk, sometimes abruptly moving satire about the West German economic 'miracle' of the 50's.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 6, 2004

Full Review

Michael Bronski

Gay Community News (Boston)

Fassbinder is still a filmmaker with a vision, but this time around the vision seems a bit tired and worn.

Sep 12, 2022

Full Review

Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

Despite its emulation of classical Hollywood Technicolor, Lola, much like the other films in the trilogy, is often insular and cold, holding the audience at arms length.

Rated: 2.5/4

Aug 22, 2019

Full Review

Diego Galán

El Pais (Spain)

Lola has a basic simplicity that controls Fassbinder's excesses in its mise-en-scène. [Full Review in Spanish]

Aug 21, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

Von Bohm (Armin Mueller-Stahl) comes to a city in West Germany to be the new head of building inspection. He is intent on following the letter of the law, even with rapid development and extensive construction activity. Gradually, he becomes enamored with Mary-Louise (Barbara Sukowa), but does not know she is "Lola," a singer at a brothel, until he arrives for an inspection there. Von Bohm also doesn't realize that she is also involved with a rival, the developer Schukert (Mario Adorf).

Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Screenwriter: Pea Fröhlich, Peter Märthesheimer, Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Production Co: Rialto Film, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Trio Film
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: German
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 15, 2020
Runtime: 1h 55m

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