Baal

Director: Volker Schlöndorff

1970 / 87min / DCP

Three giants of the New German Cinema meet for a coruscating adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s first full-length play, written at age 20. Schlöndorff directs Rainer Werner Fassbinder in the title role, a self-destructive poet living in dissolute defiance of bourgeoise society, leading a cast that includes director-to-be Margarethe von Trotta as Baal’s pregnant mistress and Fassbinder troupe regulars Hanna Schygulla, Peer Raben, Günther Kaufmann, and Irm Hermann. Suppressed by the Brecht estate and long thought lost, the restored Baal offers a crucial work uniting the talents of Schlöndorff, von Trotta, and Fassbinder at the outset of their careers.