Emmi Kurowski, a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship. One night she goes to a bar frequented by Arab immigrants and strikes up a friendship with middle-aged mechanic Ali. Their relationship soon develops into something more, and Emmi's family and neighbors criticize their spontaneous marriage. Soon Emmi and Ali are forced to confront their own insecurities about their future.
Top Billed Cast
Brigitte Mira
Emmi Kurowski
El Hedi ben Salem
Ali
Irm Hermann
Krista
Barbara Valentin
Barbara
Elma Karlowa
Mrs. Kargus
Anita Bucher
Mrs. Ellis
Gusti Kreissl
Paula
Doris Mattes
Mrs. Angermayer
Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews
C CRCulverVerified TMDB Critic
2018-07-23
The original title of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1974 film "Fear Eats the Soul" is deliberately ungrammatical German: ANGST ESSEN SEELE AUF "Fear Eat Soul". That is due to one of the two protagonists we meet: Ali (El Hedi ben Salem) is a Moroccan immigrant working in Munich. He toils as a car repairman and has learned some very basic German, but he has been hindered from assimilating to German and fully learning the language by both lack of time and a German society that deliberately keep his kind at arm's length. But one night at a pub, he meets by chance Emmi (Brigitte Mira) a 60-something w...
C CinemaSerfVerified TMDB Critic
2025-09-04
Does anyone remember when Channel 4 (in the UK) had their Friday night red triangle zone of late night adult films that would probably have been X-certificate but that were available free-to-air? I think this is probably the only one of those I still recall as it memorably challenges just about every stereotype in the dictionary. The elderly and widowed “Emmi” (Brigitte Mara) meets the handsome and younger “Ali” (El Hedi Ben Salem) who has come to Germany from Morocco to work. He only has limited German, but with the help of a thunderstorm and some brandy, the pair can make themselves ...
