Effi Briest

Rainer Werner Fassbinder - 1974
Opening up, I considered the various texts running through here, the voiceover/ internal monologue, and more objective voiceover, the story of the image, the titles we were given. These seem to be initially giving us the 'truth', we feel content and modern and superior, sometimes even to one of the texts, but then it turns on us, we are rather stumped; who we though was giving 'good', liberal views, will say something rather nasty. We are implicated, and who to believe? Is Effi's voiceover her 'true' self, or of a fantasist, or of a liar, or even hers? Identity and instability, even as a viewer we become unsure what position we hold.
And then, a little of the way in, I realised I was watching a dialogue with Dreyer's 'Gertrud'. Here's my evidence for connections to that strange, fascinating film, which I am not good on.
The shots of the country are pure Dreyer, overexposed back, filters, wet looking complexity of the forestry. Shot in precise slow tracks that are alreaady ongoing with the cut (desire). Often far away, but can start close. Exact visual reference with the parasol. Indeed, the general camera movements, tracks of precision, little moves, framings, are clearly indebted and referencing Dreyer; they are also brilliant, conveying nuances of emotion and the instability of the character, and us, I mentioned above. I would need to watch this again to describe it better; this is my impression rather than analysis (as all the first time reviews really are).
The hypnotic pace, the flighty voice, the very still, deliberately mannered acting. These tracks come as she walks slowly. Her very white appearance against the background, a new, by Dreyer, use of black and white, is here. As is people talking when facing in opposite directions (worth saying that much of what I say about Dreyer, and a little of Fassbinder, is from Rosenbaum).
Perhaps this film is Gertrud had she given in to that desire; it would be a complex giving in, riven by doubt, surely. Fassinbinder is surely more direct and a little lasivious than Dreyer (not that I can remember the latter exactly; I'll get to a re-watch), with some emotional SRS and a few added bits of sharpness here and there.
This film is completely fasinating, a great film for the layers, the thoughts, the worlds it opens up, though I didn't find it particularly pleasurable. Rather the opposite, in a good way, from what I might have previously expected from Fassbinder.