The Merchant of Four Seasons
| The Merchant of Four Seasons | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
| Produced by | Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
| Written by | Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
| Starring |
Hans Hirschmüller Irm Hermann Hanna Schygulla Klaus Löwitsch |
| Music by | Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Peer Raben (arranger) |
| Cinematography | Dietrich Lohmann |
| Edited by | Thea Eymèsz |
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Production
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Tango Film
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Release date
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Running time
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88 min |
| Country | West Germany |
| Language | German |
| Budget | DEM 178,000 (estimated) |
The Merchant of Four Seasons (German: Händler der vier Jahreszeiten) is a 1971 West German film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, starring Hans Hirschmüller and Irm Hermann. The plot follows the life of a fruit-peddler, living in 1950s West Germany, who is driven over the edge by an uncaring society.
The title derives from the French expression for a fruit and vegetable seller, "un marchand des quatre-saisons". The film explores issues of class prejudices, domestic violence, infidelity, family discord, depression and self-destructive behavior.
Hans, an ordinary but likable man, returns home after spending several years in the French Foreign Legion. He is berated by his mother ("The good die young, and people like you come back," she says after hearing about the death of the young friend Hans had taken to the army with him).
Hans works as a fruit peddler, calling out his products and diligently making his rounds through the residential streets. Short and stocky, he is married to the slim and taller Irmgard, who helps him with his work. They have a small daughter, Renate. One day Hans sells fruit to an attractive married woman in an apartment building. She asks him to deliver the pears in person and invites him in, but he refuses, saying "some other time." The woman is the great love of Hans's life since his youth. When the suspicious Irmgard questions why it took so long, he escapes her incessant complaints by abandoning his cart and going into a nearby bar. Soon, the sad ritual of his empty existence emerges: arguing with his wife, drinking excessively, lamenting lost personal and professional opportunities. While in the bar, Hans gets sentimental about his golden days as a policeman. In a flashback, he recalls how one day he brought a prostitute to the police station to take a statement, but she lured him into having oral sex. Caught by his superior, this incident got him fired.
Irmgard appears at the bar to fetch him, but a drunk Hans says he will come home when he wants to. When his wife does not leave fast enough, he throws a chair at her. Finally Hans comes home intoxicated. Irmgard calls him a pig and he beats her up in front of their little daughter. The next morning, Irmgard has disappeared and Hans is desperate.
Irmgard, fleeing with Renate, finds support with Hans' family. His contemptuous bourgeois mother has always disdained Hans, as she favors her obedient married daughter Heidi and tolerates her outspoken college student daughter Anna. When Hans once dreamed of being a mechanic, his mother demanded that he keep on studying and forbid him from taking a job that would get his hands dirty. Irmgard complains to her in-laws that Hans attacked her the night before. Heidi and her husband agree with the mother that Hans has always been good for nothing. Anna is the lone relative sympathetic to him, saying his family has always despised him and never gave him a proper chance. When Hans arrives, he tries to reconcile with his wife, but Irmgard retreats to a corner of the living room screaming in terror while the brother-in-law stands in front of her. The two men struggle while Irmgard phones a lawyer, saying she wants a divorce. When she puts down the receiver, Hans begins to sing his favorite tune: "Buona, buona notte, you can't have everything you want.” Then he has a heart attack.
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Wikipedia