The Wonderful, Horrible Life Of Leni Riefenstahl

1993 documentary from Ray Muller about the titular subject
To the form of the documentary; we have a montage, often of particularly stunning examples of Riefenstahl’s work, with quiet music, and of course interview footage and so on. There are track-ins to pieces, though nothing too overt. The one slight misstep is the announcing that it has no preconceptions; of course it does. It does though do its best; with a strong element of self-reflexivity, the process of the documentary is very much evident, with Muller on screen a decent amount. We can always question what is going on; the intention is not to hide. This film obviously focuses on the one, important aspect of Riefenstahl’s life, the movies, especially the 1930’s ones, in great detail. By omission, it achieves comprehension. It is a deeply impressive piece, asking the right questions.
The film starts off pretty clearly, and stays linear throughout, but it becomes obvious there are a number of levels. This is because Riefenstahl, as we see from the non-main camera footage, is a lot more than how she wants to present herself. It is suggested, with firm evidence, that she is in some way or another lying. The von Sternberg example seems particularly damning. This means the whole film is an effort of engagement by the viewer, to try and balance at once the insight Riefenstahl can offer, to not unthinkingly condemn, but to hold in deep, deep, suspicion, and often disgust.
Riefenstahl has some interesting things to say about her undoubted genius; especially on her musical editing of tones of colour, and the move to small climaxes, moments of attention. Composition and editing are her forte.
Frankly, how can we know what is or was in her head? She comes across as surely deeply naive, blind, but where do we reach the stage of ‘evil’. She will occasionally admit suddenly more than we expect; then a gross falsity. Her self-absorption is quite astonishing, more than just an obsession with art. Her views on art and politics are utterly vile and misguided.
Ultimately though, as is implied, the question remains; what do we want from her? It seems too late. But why won’t she say the words asked? She seems to accept something, and yet she still refuses. Of course, it would be too little to apologise; but why not do so? Her final question; ‘where does my guilt lie?’, is again self-obsessed. It stopped being about her a long, long time ago.