Der Fan

Désirée Nosbusch stars as Simone, a teenager obsessed with pop star R (Bodo Steiger). She writes him professing her love and waits obsessively for his reply. When none comes, she travels to Munich to confront him in person. They meet and seem to hit it off, but things do not exactly go as anyone would have planned them. This is a cold, somewhat alienating film that I have to say I really enjoyed. All the performances are subdued and quietly driven, and the film pulses with a synth score by Rheingold that also stands in for R's music. It all leads to an inevitable, but still somewhat surprising brutal end.

First, lets get the fact that the electro soundtrack here is one of the best scores ever. Like EVER! And since this centers on a pop star it's pretty important. There's a repetitive style that works well with the leads repetitive obsession with her letters.

The story and performances are splendid and the ending works just fine for me. It's a story about depression and identity -- deserves a Gen Z following.

Der Fan (1982)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Teenager Simone (Desiree Nosbusch) fantasizes about having a relationship with her favorite pop singer R (Bodo Steiger). She finally by chance ends up meeting him but their relationship takes a dangerous turn.

I guess the less said about the plot of DER FAN the better it will be for those who haven't seen it. This now cult item was released to a lot of controversy and it remains somewhat shocking today and especially the twist that happens so it's best that you don't know this big spoiler so I'm certainly not going to give it away here. Is the film worthy of all the hype and controversy? I would personally say no as I think there are much better films out there that deals with someone losing their mind but there's no question that there's enough here to recommend it.

I think one of the strongest things going for the film is the wonderful music score by Rheingold who manages to build a lot of dark atmosphere. I thought the score perfectly brought out the mind set of this teenage girl and I loved how it got deeper and darker as her mind began to slip. There's also some nice cinematography and some good editing that helps the film along. Director Eckhart Schmidt does a very nice job at slowly building up the slipping mind of this character. At 93- minutes the film actually feels much longer due to the slow style but for the most part I thought the director did good in making sure that it never got too boring.

The performance of Nosbusch is another reason to check the film out. The actress was probably just 16 or 17-years-old when she made this film so there are going to be some who object to the full nudity that she has throughout the final portion of the film. I think attacking the film for this would be rather narrow-minded even though the actress did stir up controversy when she tried to have the film pulled on its original release, although I wonder how much of this was just hype to sell the picture. Either way, she certainly delivers a convincing performance of someone slowly losing their mind. I thought she perfectly captured the naive nature of this character and when she finally goes off the deep end, you can believe what you're seeing.

i would also say that the biggest problem is that while the actress pulls off the mental state of the character, the direction really doesn't pull the psychological drama out of everything like he should have. This film falls well short of the psychological horrors of something like TAXI DRIVER. THE FAN certainly has plenty of flaws including a not-so-original story but at the end of the day the performances and the overall tone makes it worth watching.

Doleful, onerous portrait of an obsessed fanatic which is entirely encompassing despite its glacial pace. A mildly dissociative schoolgirl grows increasingly entranced by a popular music artist(a very early '80s Kraftwerk-style fellow), and sets forth with determination to become his lover. Through the course of her efforts, she eventually finds herself in his bed...but when she is handed her wham-bam-thank-you papers, her moment of happiness turns to shock and dismay. Things are far from finalized, however, as the closing moments of this film illustrate in a rattling climax which brilliantly rectifies the brooding monotone of its creeping buildup.

A diagnostic rumination on fanaticism which is stylistically rather dated, yet nonetheless quite penetrating and recommendable.

6.5/10.

Der Fan is a practically unknown horror film; but also a very good one and a film that I would call the definition of a 'sleeper'. The film is halfway between a drama and a horror film with drama taking up the first hour before the horror is unleashed in the final third. Eckhart Schmidt's film draws you into the central character with the slow building opening and successfully lulls his audience into a false sense of security before pulling the rug from under us at the end. The result is very effective and ensures that the horror of the story carries a lot of shock value with it. The film focuses on a schoolgirl named Simone. Simone is a quiet girl, and the reason for that is down her obsession with 'R' - a cheesy eighties pop singer. She's written him a letter in which she declares her undying love and constantly watches the post office for a reply; and is constantly disappointed. She can't concentrate on her schooling and decides to hit the road in order to find her love. She eventually meets him in Munich, but doesn't get the treatment she believes she deserves...

The film is German and the version I saw was dubbed poorly into English - and that's really the only bad word I have to say about it. The first hour of the film focuses solely on the main character and her obsession for the pop singer and while I can't say I can relate to it from a personal point of view; the way that things are portrayed makes things interesting. The loneliness of the central character always shines through and even though she's more than just a little bit odd, the director does actually succeed in making us feel bad for her plight. The film is slow for the first hour and not a great deal happens although it really isn't boring and all credit has to go to the film for giving the audience an amazing pay-off towards the end. All the patience invested in the film is surely rewarded when the big twist hits and Eckhart Schmidt delivers a totally bizarre conclusion and brings with it a change of pace that is really difficult to forget. I'm not too surprised that this film isn't often rated more highly as it will undoubtedly struggle to find a target audience; but if you like your horror dark and shocking and have a bit of patience - this little flick is well worth checking out!