In a Year with 13 Moons

One of Fassbinder's darkest films. Elvira lives in Frankfurt. Years ago she had gender reassignment surgery; the reason was a sentence spoken by a man she loved. He had no interest in her and said it carelessly. The film follows Elvira's last five days. Her partner leaves her, she visits her former wife and her daughter, goes to the orphanage where she grew up, and tries to find the man who said that sentence. The narrative is mercilessly direct. Long sections run in single takes; in one scene Elvira describes the years she worked in an abattoir while real slaughter footage runs behind her, and the camera does not cut. The background is personal. The director wrote and shot the film quickly after the death of someone he had been with for a long time. He also edited, photographed and wrote it. Volker Spengler plays Elvira. Rainer Werner Fassbinder directed. A powerful but difficult production for anyone who likes European cinema and hard character studies. Before you watch, know this: the film contains abattoir footage, suicide and violence, and offers relief nowhere.