Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Very well executed

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Awesome Movie

While "Depair. A Trip into the Light" (1977) shows the decrease of mind of Hermann Hermann, "In a Year of 13 Moons" illustrates the decrease of matter of Erwin/Elvira Weishaupt. Both persons try to change their identities: Hermann Hermann by taking over the identity of Felix Weber, Erwin Weishaupt by changing his sex and becoming Elvira. Both persons share their desire to transcend their personality by which action they trap themselves and get into a maelstrom of events out of which there is no other escape than insanity in the case of Hermann Hermann or death in the case of Erwin/Elvira. In both cases, despair may be seen as the causing motive of the process of self-destruction. "Despair is the only condition of life I can accept", director R.W. Fassbinder said in an interview. It seems as if each person is given a certain role, which he or she has to play and which displays this person's personality as perceived by society. Maybe everybody is surrounded by an infinite number of empty but already reserved personalities that will be taken by future persons. If somebody transcends his personality, he thus steals one that was already determined to someone else, an action by which the equilibrium of subjectivity in this world is disturbed and for which therefore a transcending person has to be punished. And the mechanisms of punishment work in the two forms of destruction or self-destruction, the latter possibility is enabled by guilt, a concept that transfers the position of the executor from the society to oneself. Moreover, once changed one's own personality, there is not return anymore. When Elvira cuts her hair and dresses again with men's clothes, he is not accepted anymore by his wife and his daughter as Erwin, although Elvira is still recognized as Erwin by Anton Saitz, for whom he once changed his sex. He/she is thus neither Erwin nor Elvira, thus both persons or somebody between both persons and therefore in any way taking the position of a third person, which again means transcendence and has to be punished by society which paradoxically turns out to be a strictly immanent concept of organization, while persons tend to be transcendental.

I found this movie difficult to watch the first time I saw it, and after the initial shock faded, I found myself drawn back into this tragic tale of a desperate human being. Elviras character has to be one of the most pitifully human in the history of cinema, and the recounting of her last few days alive are rife with powerful imagery ( especially the haunting slaughter-house scene...not for the weak of stomach! Vegans beware!) to convey an extraordinarily beautiful, heart-wrenching tale. The story is loosely based on one of Fassbinder's own lover who committed suicide, and perhaps it is that personal background that infuses the film with a palpable sense of reality... few films have felt more true to me than In a Year of 13 Moons. Fassbinder's approach in this film is a little different than in say, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, there is less dialog, perhaps to convey the loneliness and hopelessness of Elvira in her final moments. The acting is superb, and the characters will stay with you long after you turn your TV off. I would recommend the Criterion edition for anyone interested in the film, its chock-cull of extra features, and a really cool introduction by Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater.

This film effectively dealt with emotions. The emotions that the actor felt was conveyed to the audience effectively. For example, when the transsexual woman cried in the game shop, she was crying because of despair. She was alone and helpless. There were two men who went up to her, but they only looked at her and did not help her. This was an effective scene which conveyed a variety of emotions from sadness, despair to the cruelty and indifference of the people in the world.However, there were times when the film became boring. The scene where a prostitute friend of his flipped the channels of the TV was very long. It was probably about 10 minutes long! The woman aimlessly look at the television, changed the channels, and a minute later changed the channel again. This went on for so long that I did not understand why the scene had to be so long.Also it was strange that she had to watch a man hanging himself, without intervening. Normally, if you see someone trying to kill himself, you would stop him. This is the natural response. However, in that scene, she did not stop the man, but totally ignored him and let him kill himself. I tried to analyse why there was such a response. Maybe it was because the director wanted to increase the level of sadness, that the woman in the film felt so sad that she could not care about anyone.The part revealing the woman's past life was touching. I felt sad when they said that she could not be adopted from the orphanage because her biological mother did not approve of this. She was afraid of letting her husband know that she gave birth to a child without his knowledge. Because of this selfishness, she missed a chance of getting real love from her adopted parents.In short, I think there are lots to think about from the film. It is highly thought provoking.

If Fassbinder has made a worse film, I sure don't want to see it! Anyone who complains that his films are too talky and claustrophobic should be forced to view this, to learn to appreciate the more spare style he opted for in excellent films like "The Bitter Tears Of Petra von Kant". This film bogs down with so much arty, quasi-symbolic images it looks like a parody of an "art-film". The scene in the slaughterhouse and the scene where Elvira's prostitute friend channel-surfs for what seems like ten minutes are just two of the most glaring examples of what makes this film a real test of the viewer's endurance. But what really angers me about it are the few scenes which feature just Elvira and her ex-wife and/or her daughter. These are the only moments that display any real human emotion, and prove that at the core of this horrible film, there was an excellent film struggling to free itself. What a waste.