Chinese Roulette

A Fassbinder film set in a country house. A couple lie to each other. She says she is going to Milan, he says Oslo. Both go to the country house and both bring their lovers. They meet there. Then their daughter Angela arrives. The child cannot walk and uses crutches; her mute governess is with her. She is the one who arranged the meeting. The evening passes with a game: the groups question each other, one side thinks of a person and the others try to work out who by indirect questions. As the answers go on the game turns into a reckoning. What the film is interested in is silent cruelty inside a family: nobody shouts, everyone speaks politely, and every sentence cuts someone. The camera moves constantly through the house; glass, mirrors and shelves come between the characters. That form is what the film is most discussed for. Anna Karina, Margit Carstensen, Ulli Lommel and Brigitte Mira are in the cast. Rainer Werner Fassbinder directed. A hard example for anyone who likes European cinema and confined-space drama. For a viewer expecting a warm family story, the film is cold and none of its characters is likeable.