Bruno dies, unexpectedly, after a shoot-out with the police. Almost no destruction caused by the firing, not even bloodshed. Plot moves flat, without any pretention of emotional violence. It constructs and is a violent climax in a gangster film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder Liebe ist kälter als der Tod (Love is Colder Than Death, 1969). It is an antithesis to Hollywood cinema, especially to gangster noir films widely influenced European and German audience during the time. Bruno’s (Ulli Lommel) death in the firing scene plays out more as a “spectacle” instead of an acted-out scene. To perform a spectacle was basically Fassbinder’s attempt to eliminate the magical effect of cinema found in Hollywood films which leaves only emotional impact among the audience—which, according to Fassbinder, is in fact naïve. What Fassbinder was trying to advocate is to provide as much room for reflection as possible for the audience, to bridge their experience towards the film. In the film, Fassbinder himself starred as a gangster named Franz.

Love is Colder Than Death may be regarded as Fassbinder’s early work, owing its influence from Brecht’s theatre—differentiating acting process between “to act” and “to demonstrate”. Action scenes in Love is Colder Than Death differentiates the two by bridging a room to reflect for the audience. Brecht termed it as alienation effect, in hope for the audience to build a sympathetic relationship with the scene. A scene, by providing as much room to reflect on the film’s narrative, nourishes audience’s rationality. The scene where Bruno, along with petty hood friend Franz, was hit, depicts a horizontal relationship in action scene. Horizontal acting technique performed by the character Bruno is Y-axis, an antithesis of X-axis, on the contrary forms a vertical relationship. Y-axis, the horizontal relationship, is what Fassbinder used in eliminating magical effect in action scenes, especially its domination in Hollywood action films.

Horizontal relationship manifested in Love is Colder Than Death is basically interpersonal (inter-actor) relationship within social context. Violence is therefore affected more by psychological logic and social relation, rather than by a natural shock or emotion upon viewing what’s on screen. Love is Colder Than Death is in fact a grand narration of gangster tales, where relationship between individuals and between groups clashes in the articulated system, i.e. violence. What Fassbinder was picturing as social relation in Love is Colder Than Death may well be viewed as his reflection upon the capitalistic society around him.

Narrative gangster film in Fassbinder’s cinema points to political comprehension, for instance, police force which is recognized as an entity within a system. Such as in a death scene where Bruno shot a police patrol who was about to give him a ticket for illegal parking—traffic ticketing is seen within socio-political context of country and civil territory. To Fassbinder, there is a kind of organic correlation between social context in which the film is made with its narrative articulation and its language aesthetics. Aesthetics is based on social context while at the same time unfolds the magical effect of a violent scene. Such revelation is made possible by the parallel, relational logic between the characters.

What Fassbinder was trying to advocate is the illusiveness of Hollywood cinema for the passive relationship it creates between the audience and film. This passive relationship is developed on emotional bridge, intentionally created to bond audience. Most Hollywood gangster films play around on emotionality and psychological shock to affect audience. In a torture scene where Franz is tormented by members of a crime syndicate, Fassbinder did not picture direct execution. When the leader of the syndicate ordered his men to abuse Franz, audience is presented with topless, buff gang members, shouldering gun holsters, with sunglasses on—symbolically associating violence from the given profiles of the gangsters. The violence in the scene may well be predicted by the audience, using rationality derived from characters’ appearance. Fassbinder needn’t to present physical violence directly. Instead, he gave the audience a room for imagination, where one can derive violence from Franz’s abused look. Fassbinder’s violence scene brought forward the implicit structure of violence found in many Hollywood noirs. Another example of Y-relationship can be found in other violence scene where a friend asked Franz for a cigarette. Franz gave no verbal response, but unexpectedly hit him. The violence seems buoyant, devoid of emotion. It is not the level of violence that the scene was aiming, but rather a horizontal violence relationship that Franz has developed towards other characters within social relation. The spectacle of violence shown through the character Franz provides a room to reflect for the audience. It is a horizontal relationship which gives more associations of more substantial violent images, i.e. situation, relation, as well as contextual violence comparable to other emotional and natural violence.

Action film with few deaths very well challenges audience’s heroic emotion. Love is Colder Than Death does not visualize abundant murders and deaths in its storyline. Fassbinder tried to observe social context in an advanced era of capitalism, where human subject exists in the strangulation of system, individuals, and relation between individuals. To Fassbinder, the characters Franz, Bruno, and Joanna (Hanna Schygulla) are not socially rebellious gangsters such as Bonnie and Clyde. Bruno’s death during firing scene with the police is Fassbinder’s social observation, putting into place the individual within its group and the relations within social system. The police sniffed Franz and Bruno’s plan to rob a bank because Joanna—Franz’s lover—leaked the plan. Joanna longs for a family life with Franz. Her betrayal—which in turn sacrifices Bruno’s life—was her desperate attempt to leave behind gangster life. Joanna’s dream of a family is an impact of social stratification nurtured by capitalism, where group awareness is getting more and more vulnerable, even betrayed. Fassbinder’s gangsters are not rebels; they are merely trapped in the behavioral patterns of the middle class, well spread out in capitalistic society.

Bruno’s death is essentially not of violent factor but more to individual relation within capitalistic social system. Aesthetics of the film are also developed in a parallel way. The character Bruno is depicted as an individual within social entrapment. To rob and to be a gangster member is consequently an effect of strangulating capitalistic social system. Moreover, Bruno’s death is also a consequence of the same social traps. This is also the case with the death of a waitress who got shot by Bruno right before he leaves a café after the murder of a Turkish gangster. The waitress is a symbol of an entity unrelated to the conflict in Love is Colder Than Death. Waitress’ profile is depicted as a beautiful woman, friendly and of good service to customers. She was named Erika Rohmer, inspired by the waitress in La Boulangère de Monceau (The Bakery Girl of Monceau), Eric Rohmer’s 1963 sequel to Contes Moraux (Six Moral Tales). Eric Rohmer’s waitress is a harmonious individual amid Europe’s turbulent circumstances—and, to Fassbinder, even this harmonious personality could not escape death. Fassbinder dedicated this film to Eric Rohmer, as mentioned in opening title. Fassbinder’s gangster style is indeed his acknowledgement to the universality of Hollywood cinema. Yet to him, Hollywood’s method leaves only emotional impact among the audience, hence naïve. He tried to create as many reflective possibilities as possible for the audience to analyze. This emotional analysis is often brought as the connecting bridge to the picture shown on screen.

Love is Colder Than Death shows Fassbinder’s early stage of creativity. To him, cinema aesthetics is a mode of expression, taking well into account the audience’s social context, a translation of theatre arts to cinema screen. His actors came from Anti-Theater group (founded by Fassbinder) and Love is Colder Than Death marked the early stage of New German Cinema in dealing with social, economy, political, and Europe’s spectacle culture, as well as capital domination. His early experimentation in this film is regarded as an identity search of a young German director during the era. He, too, believed that his works will receive greater response among audience in the future.

Note:

Love is Colder Than Death (1969) is now subtitled into Indonesian by Forum Lenteng in the program DVD For All.

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