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Poster for Fear Eats the Soul
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Released
1974 · FILM

Fear Eats the Soul

An elderly German cleaning lady seeks companionship and love with an Arab mechanic, but must confront hostile family and societal prejudice as they fight to build a future together.

Directed by
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Written by
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Runtime
93 min
Language
DE
DramaRomance

Synopsis

Emmi Kurowski, an elderly cleaning lady, experiences loneliness in her later years after the death of her husband and the lack of meaningful connection with her grown children. One night, she visits a bar popular with Arab immigrants and meets Ali, a middle-aged mechanic, with whom she begins a friendship that gradually deepens into a romantic relationship. Their decision to marry is met with disapproval from Emmi's family and neighbors, who criticize the spontaneity of their union. As their bond grows, Emmi and Ali must face the uncertainties and insecurities surrounding their future together.

Credits

Actors
Director of Photography
Writers
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 12

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Shot by Jurgen Jurges

Box Office

1974 · Box office

Produced on a $130K budget

Production budget

$130K

Also known as

  • Alle Türken heißen Alide
  • Ali: Fear Eats the Soulen
  • Fear Eats the Soulen
  • Todos nos llamamos Alíes
  • Tous les autres s'appellent Alifr
  • La paura mangia l'animait

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