Sacred Transgression: Passion And Cannibalism In Eckhart Schmidt's Der Fan

BEYOND CATEGORIZATIONS

Der Fan (1982), directed by Eckhart Schmidt, is a film forgotten and even despised by critics, perhaps due to its failure to fit into the prestigious New German Cinema (of filmmakers like Fassbinder, Wenders, Herzog), which dominated the international perception of German cinematography. When it was released, it was seen as "pop," linked to the culture of MTV and the Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave), and, for some, perhaps even a bit "tacky" or exploitative to be taken seriously as "art." It is necessary to point out that Der Fan is also a film that defies categorization, as its plot oscillates in a disconcerting manner between psychological drama, melancholic romance, and visceral horror. Thus, critics of the time, who preferred works with well-defined genres, did not know how to classify it or to whom to recommend it. It was not a horror film for horror fans, nor a drama for the art-house audience. In this way, the difficulty in classifying Der Fan is not accidental but a result of the film's own intention to transgress the notions of cinematic genre, by refusing to offer the spectator a safe harbor, forcing them to follow the psychic disintegration of its protagonist, Simone (played by Désirée Nosbusch). The protagonist's journey of absurd and ritualistic crimes, such as murder and cannibalism, also leads the viewer to contemplate the loss of her aura of innocence and passivity, which society insists on applying to adolescents, especially young women.

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THE INTERNAL LOGIC OF IDEALIZED PASSION

Initially, Der Fan presents itself as a character study, a drama about juvenile obsession. Simone's life is portrayed with an oppressive monotony, caused by friction with her family and school life, so that her only salvation rests in the figure of the pop star "R." Her devotion is not just a teenage whim, as her behavior can be compared to an almost religious faith, a pillar that supports her existential void. The walls of her room, covered with his posters, are an altar. Her letters, never answered, are prayers. In this first phase, the film generates an uncomfortable empathy, as we recognize the internal logic of the teenager's idealized passion in its extreme form.

Faced with silence, the countless letters sent and never answered, Simone travels to meet her idol, her god. It is from this point that the film's tension shifts to the possibility of the consummation of Simone's love. However, the encounter is disappointing and mechanical. "R" treats her with a calculated indifference, using her to satisfy a momentary desire. At this moment, the film's narrative becomes brutal. The collision between Simone's idealized fantasy and the idol's cold, transactional reality does not destroy her but, on the contrary, transforms her. The romance does not turn into disillusionment, but into a new and terrible form of possession.

It is then that terror emerges, not as an external element, but as the logical conclusion of Simone's obsession. If she cannot possess her idol spiritually or emotionally, she will possess him materially. Thus, the murder is not an act of fury, but of appropriating the god who ignores her. And cannibalism, the most transgressive act, becomes the final metaphor for communion and consumption. By devouring him, Simone internalizes "R" literally, making him an inseparable part of herself. The idol, once an ethereal and unattainable image, is reduced to his most basic and formless condition: flesh, matter to be consumed. This operation drags the obscene, that which should remain "off-stage" (ob-scaena), to the center of the narrative, not as a spectacle of gore, but as a ritual of possession.

This cold and deliberate logic of Simone's annihilates the archetype of the innocent teenager, which society projects when it offers us the idea that young people, especially females, are passive beings, manipulable consumers of popular culture, but never agents of calculated violence. Simone destroys this notion, in the instant she is neither a passive victim of male exploitation nor a "final girl" who survives the monster. She is the monster. Her capacity for action is absolute and terrifying, for she does not respond with tears or hysteria, but with a clarity of purpose that is deeply unsettling.

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In the extended Premium version of the article more an interpretation of the film's cannibalism based on Georges Batailles' book Eroticism, the perverse choice of Désirée Nosbusch for the role of Simone, nudity and sex as anti-eroticism, the nudity of the victim-perpetrator, 32 additional images featuring the film's most striking scenes.

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