Rotten Tomatoes

Movies / TV

    Celebrity

      No Results Found

       View All       Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

      In a Year of 13 Moons

      Released Nov 17, 1978 2 hr. 4 min. Drama List
      73% 15 Reviews Tomatometer 80% Fewer than 50 Ratings Audience Score Elvira Weishaupt (Volker Spengler), once a burly working-class butcher named Erwin, has made an enormous sacrifice for love. She has undergone a sex change for a romantic interest who has abandoned her, and she now must struggle to reconcile her past life with her present identity. The emotionally fractured Elvira visits influential acquaintances and old haunts in hopes of putting the pieces of her life back together -- and of confronting her lost love. Read More Read Less

      Where to Watch

      In a Year of 13 Moons

      Prime Video

      Rent In a Year of 13 Moons on Prime Video, or buy it on Prime Video.

      Audience Reviews

      View All (2) audience reviews
      Petros T It's a chore to sit through due to the unbelievably bloated, relentlessly expository and above all endless monologues, stilted acting, boring cinematography and almost total absence of a plot or dynamics. To add insult to injury, somewhere between the nonsense introduction and the incessant and artificial pseudo-philosophical ramblings that are disguised as dialogues, it tries hard to appear as an intellectual musing on life but comes off as self-indulgent, smart-ass and unbearably dull instead. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/04/24 Full Review Audience Member Fassbinder was known for his films dealing with emptional issues, people in despair and they are never loaded with happiness. In fact, I have not seen a scene from the guy with a pure glimse of joy. Here we meet Erwin, or Elvira as he likes to be called. He is transgendered and walks aroound in dresses and womens clothing. Back in 1978 this is not a trick to earn many friends outside the community of his but most people seem to accept him. The problem is that he does not accept himself. Thinking about the past and the life he never obtain is something that wrecks him and this shows a summer of his life where he pretty much are fed up with it all. Amazing acting by Volker Spengler as the lead in this daring and emotional film. It's rather long and at times it's also pretty boring. It's not repitative or dragged but it sticks with the same theme here and there's little development. When it takes little paths away from the main plot, it's rearly uplifting, like the guy hanging himself. I like the expermientation with added sounds and all and this is already a pretty left field film so that adds up. The slaughter house scene are a stand out, but it has little to do with the actual story. Still, that will be my clearest memory of this film. My third film from RWF I belive, and I place it in the middle scale from his works. 6.5 out of 10 tennis balls. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

      Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

      More Like This

      View All Best Movies to Stream at Home
      76% 85% Veronika Voss 86% 87% Fox and His Friends 84% 85% The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant 92% 90% The Marriage of Maria Braun 89% 78% Four Nights of a Dreamer Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

      Photos

      View All In a Year of 13 Moons photos

      In a Year of 13 Moons

      In a Year of 13 Moons (1978) In a Year of 13 Moons (1978) In a Year of 13 Moons (1978) In a Year of 13 Moons (1978) In a Year of 13 Moons (1978) View more photos

      Critics Reviews

      View All (15) Critics Reviews
      Jay Scott Globe and Mail The movie is a relentlessly uncompromiaing, keening cri de coeur, a movie that has turned a wake into a work of art. Dec 6, 2022 Full Review Bruce McCabe Boston Globe "Moons," in fact, is suspiciously easy to kiss off. It can be tedious and silly. Yet Fassbinder is too brilliant to be dismissed. Apr 27, 2018 Full Review Richard Brody New Yorker In Fassbinder's portrait of the gleamingly rebuilt Frankfurt as an emotionally devastated wasteland, Fascism-the need of some to dominate and of others to endure-comes off as a woeful constant of the heart. May 23, 2016 Full Review Michael Bronski Gay Community News (Boston) It is, on the whole, a satisfying film — although not as immediately enjoyable. Sep 7, 2022 Full Review Diego Galán El Pais (Spain) In a Year with 13 Moons is an important film in director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's career. [Full Review in Spanish] Aug 16, 2019 Full Review TV Guide The story is as bizarre as Fassbinder himself seems to have been, cluing us into the darker side of his private life. Rated: 2/4 Sep 18, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Elvira Weishaupt (Volker Spengler), once a burly working-class butcher named Erwin, has made an enormous sacrifice for love. She has undergone a sex change for a romantic interest who has abandoned her, and she now must struggle to reconcile her past life with her present identity. The emotionally fractured Elvira visits influential acquaintances and old haunts in hopes of putting the pieces of her life back together -- and of confronting her lost love.
      Director
      Rainer Werner Fassbinder
      Screenwriter
      Rainer Werner Fassbinder
      Distributor
      Cinemagi
      Production Co
      Filmverlag der Autoren, Tango Film, Pro-ject Filmproduktion [de]
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      German
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Nov 17, 1978, Wide
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Nov 20, 2020
      Most Popular at Home Now