Nobody Loves Me Review- by Michael Carlisle

 Title: Nobody Loves Me

 Year: 1994
Director: Dorris Dorrie
Country: Germany
Language: German

It concerns me that Nobody Loves Me does not have an English or Region 1 DVD. This means that it is very unlikely that anybody reading this review has seen the film, or will see it in the near future. I watched it because I was in a film class and my film professor just happened to have a copy, though I think he had to go to a film festival to get it. Nobody Loves Me is a unique German film that breaks all barriers. It speaks volumes about life, death and the foolish North American view of Sexuality. Directed by Dorris Dorrie Nobody Loves Me  is an odd, funny, serious, innovative and ultimately life altering film.

Fanny Fink (Maria Schrader) is in a funk, and not the good kind of funk. She lives alone in a rundown housing project in Cologne and has an unrewarding job frisking female passengers at the airport. Fanny is miserable because she is convinced that "a woman over 30 is more likely to get hit by an A-bomb than find a man." Her daily mantra is: "I'm strong, I'm pretty, I'm intelligent. I love and I am loved," but she speaks the words without conviction. To potential suitors, she gives the advice, "I wouldn't fall in love with me if I were you."  She believes that she is unloved and somehow deserves to be unloved.  These thoughts are quite common for many people around the world, especially for Europeans and North Americans. Everybody has fears of being single, of being unloved, of being rejected. The emotions and fears felt by Fanny are very identifiable. Dorrie's perceptiveness when it comes to this mindset is what makes Fanny such an endearing character and causes the film to be so compelling.

ltamar (Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss), is an Afro-German psychic who is gay and full of life. He opens up new doors for her and she begins to see herself anew. According to Orleo's prediction, Fanny will find her "last chance at love" in a blond, thirty-ish man who is somehow associated with the number 23. The likeliest candidate is the new manager of Fanny's run-down high-rise apartment building, Lothar Sticker (Michael Von Au). Warned by Orleo that she must be aggressive, Fanny pursues him, but his interest in her is non-existent. By falling for a man who clearly doesn't feel the same as her, Fanny learns the pain of unrequited love. In a moment of despair, she cries that she wishes she had remained emotionally sheltered. However, through all this Fanny begins to love Orleo. The heterosexual woman and the homosexual man develop an intense purely platonic love that could easily overshadow the “love” in many marriages. They become hopelessly in awe of each other, even though unfortunately Orleo is dying and thus the nearness of his death adds a great immediacy to their relationship that wouldn’t be present had Orleo been incredibly healthy.

Dorrie uses the idea of “love” in this film to criticize the North American and European ideals of what “love” is. We often think that “love” is a physical and emotional attachment that can only be met by one person. If we are “single” people assume there is something wrong with us, especially if a woman over 30 is “single” because she is more or less seen as a grouchy spinster. The only way we can be seen as “single” and not weird is if we are under 30 or widowed. Millions of people have Fanny’s view, and why not? It is embedded within us as early as childhood. We see cartoon characters like Pepe Le Pew relentlessly searching after love. In Hercules the main Character remains mortal until he learns how to be a hero, which means learning to “love” the North American way. We see hundreds upon hundreds of films telling us what “love” is, Dorrie looks at these many examples and says “bullshit!”. This idea that “love” has to be sexual needs to be thrown out the window.

In conclusion, Nobody Loves Me will move you. It will make you rethink your ideologies about “love” and “death”. It will make you want to throw your remote at the screen when you see films like Sleepless in Seattle and/or When Harry Met Sally. Unfortunately you may not be able to see it until the distributor decides to distribute it on DVD or Blu Ray, but if you do find it I suggest you watch it as many times as you can. Nobody Loves Me is one of the best German films of all time. Praise it! 5/5