Review of Fox and His Friends (1975) by Daniel P — 03 Aug 2007

A very familiar class-warfare tale: poor, rough outcast falls in love with wealthy dream-man(or woman) only to get exploited and manipulated by said Prince/Princess Charming. I think what makes this movie less successful than another variation on that story, My Summer of Love, is that Eugen, the handsome Prince with whom Fox falls in love, lacks the dimensions to illuminate why this relationship was so psychologically addictive to both parties. I mean, in My Summer of Love and in Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (my favorite of Fassbinder's films so far) you intimately understand the power dynamics because there is real love and need- at least on one of the ends. In Fox and His Friends, neither Fox nor Eugen seem as vibrant or as fully dimensional as they could have been, and so their romance lacks the spark that propels such dysfunctional scenarios to play out.

However, I will say that I liked this movie a whole lot anyway. It has an excellent pace, some very sharp dialogue, and, indeed, a sweet performance by Fassbinder as Fox. This movie definitely seemed quite narcissistic for Fassbinder (though personal biography dictates that he was more often the one victimizing his lovers than being the victim himself). I mean, the film is about his own iconography- the admittedly ugly yet sexually virile,, and self-destructive protagonist. The fact that the movie (spoiler alert!) ends with Fox OD'ing is proof of how personal this film must have been to Fassbinder, as he ended up OD'ing to death.