From StudioCanal UK comes the newly-restored 4K version of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1981 German drama, Lola, which gets a Blu-ray release on 3 July.
Set in a small West German town in 1957, a booming economy is generating a new sense of optimism. In the town brothel, Villa Fink, Lola (Barbara Sukowa), a young high-class prostitute with a zest for life, is the star of the show. Her favourite client is the influential developer Schuckert (Mario Adorf), who enjoys spending time at Villa Fink with city officials important to his construction business.
When von Bohm (Armin Mueller-Stahl), an upright, energetic building commissioner with a liberal, social-democratic outlook, arrives in the town, he falls in love with Lola without being aware where she works by night. Although he is shocked when he learns of her true identity, he nevertheless marries her.
As a result, Lola gains a husband and Schuckert is awarded a new building contract. Ultimately neither Lola, von Bohm or Schuckert are really concerned with what has happened in the past or the morality of their decisions – the main thing is that they get what they want.
Lola is the third part of Fassbinder’s BRD Trilogy alongside The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) and Veronika Voss (1982). Loosely based on Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel (1930) and its source novel, Professor Unrat by Heinrich Mann, the drama represents Fassbinder’s attempt to create an overall picture of West Germany at the time.
BONUS FEATURES • New interview with Barbara Sukowa • New interview with Juliane Lorenz – Editor and head of the Fassbinder Foundation • Trailer
