The Fan

"Der Fan" is a bone chilling and thought-provoking film about teenage obsession and the gradual descent into social isolation, despair and slow brooding insanity. Simone is a pretty young girl whose entire universe spins around a pop-singer named "R". She talks to him in her mind, fantasizes about their utopist future together, eagerly awaits letters that never come and completely neglects her school work and social life in favor of dreams about him. Simone eventually takes the initiative abandon everything without notice and hitchhikes to Munich in order to meet him at a concert. She finds her beloved "R" and, for a brief period of time, all her dreams come true as he fancies her, albeit guarding a haughty distance. But, of course, now that she finally found him, Simone isn't prepared to share her lover with the rest of the world anymore … "Der Fan" is an unimaginably slow-paced film and – please – don't immediately start to question it's cult reputation upon noticing absolutely nothing significant happens during what appears to be the entire film. Believe you me; it's all just patient and awkwardly uncomfortable building up towards one of the most shocking and revolting climaxes ever. This was an incredibly controversial release back in its home country Germany, and it's not too hard to see why. Without revealing too much about the infamous denouement, I can safely say this girl Simone single-handedly gives a whole new dimension to the term "obsessive groupie". Désirée Nosbusch gives away a hugely impressive performance as Simone and undeniably the other biggest strong point of the film – apart from the ending of course – is Rheingold's prototypic 80's electro pop music. If you're familiar with the oeuvre the relatively known 80's band Kraftwork ("The Model", "Autobahn", "Radioactivity"), you know pretty much what to expect. "Der Fan" isn't a movie for all tastes but certainly a curious collector's item for the more avid and open-minded cult fanatic to seek out.

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!

A deranged teenage girl played by Desiree Nosbusch (who like many deranged females in movies is improbably hot) is obsessed with a bad German rock star named "R". She is alienated from her parents and seemingly has no friends, so she spends all her free time listening to "R"'s music and following his career. She attends a TV show he is taping at a nearby town. They meet and he decides that she is good for a quick shag. Unfortunately, she wants more from him--MUCH more--and she ends up doing something truly shocking.

This is a downbeat and pretty disturbing movie--it's not, however, especially believable. An incident kind of like this did actually happen in Germany recently (which was made all the more disturbing by the fact that the victim was apparently completely willing). But that bizarre case involved a middle-aged man--it's a little harder to believe a pretty teenage girl could be this warped (It's also kind of an ironic conceit that the stalkers in movies are often the kind of people--i.e. young, attractive, female--that in real life are far more like to be the stalk-ees). Nosbusch does give a pretty convincing performance, and this helps greatly. This first-time German actress would go on to a short career in cinema, including English-language films like "Good Morning, Babylon" (under the name Desiree Becker). She became more famous perhaps though as a singer and a presenter of the Eurovision contest (where she no doubt introduced musical acts even worse than that of the fictional "R").

This was a good movie, but unfortunately I got my copy via Britain where it was subject to some idiotic (even by their standards) censorship. To wit, Nosbusch's impressive butt and boobs are literally on display for about ten minutes here, but the Brit censors decided a brief full-frontal scene was apparently just too harmful to society. This cut reputedly doesn't make that much of a difference though (which is exactly why it is so STUPID). Anyway, I would recommend this, but if you have a choice try to get a version WITHOUT the checkered triangle with an 18 on it (the international symbol of the idiocy of the BBFC). In any case, much like "R" does with his obsessive young fan, this one will definitely stay with you.

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.