The Merchant Of Four Seasons

THE MERCHANT OF FOUR SEASONS is one of writer-director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's best and most accessible films. A deceptively simple tale of the spiritual, mental and physical deterioration of a downtrodden fruit vendor, it's a superbly directed and performed piece of satire and a stinging indictment of petit-bourgeois mores.

After a year in the Foreign Legion, Hans (Hans Hirschmuller) returns to Germany where he becomes a fruit peddler and is forced into a loveless marriage by his abusive mother. A flashback shows that Hans was formerly a policeman who was dismissed after being caught receiving sexual favors from a woman he arrested. Other flashbacks reveal ...