Often considered one of Fassbinder’s most accessible films, it tells the story of an unlikely couple: an older German woman who marries a young migrant worker. It unfolds almost like a dream version of such a relationship, in which the mismatched pair ultimately triumphs over the prejudices of those around them.

Fassbinder was inspired by Douglas Sirk’s 1955 melodrama All That Heaven Allows, which portrays the relationship between a middle aged widow and her gardener. In Fassbinder’s version, love may overcome xenophobia on an individual level, yet Ali’s stomach ulcer becomes a symbol of a society in deep distress.

In his attempt to show how such barriers might be overcome, Fassbinder comes as close to popular comedy as one can imagine, without ever being trapped by its clichés or its simplified view of life.