Archive notice: This article was originally published on June 25, 2010. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus made 16 films together with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. For the digital restoration of the 1975/76 television film I ONLY WANT YOU TO LOVE ME, he travelled especially to Munich to develop the original colour scheme with CinePostproduction colourist Tina Falke.
The original 16 mm negative was scanned at 2K to achieve better image steadiness and colour-corrected in HD on Baselight for the film-festival premiere. The elaborate retouching work to remove damage, image-steadiness problems and dirt took several weeks. The original film look could not be touched, so using degraining tools to suppress film-grain noise required particular sensitivity.
The film, distributed by Bavaria Media, tells the tragic story of the young bricklayer Peter, who as a child is born into a wealthy but emotionally cold family. As an adult, he attempts to force the love indispensable to him through ingratiation – but this ends in disaster. A topical subject – the film powerfully depicts the pressure that is commonplace in today’s performance-driven society.
The restored film will be presented as part of the Munich Film Festival Special devoted to the defining directors of New German Cinema: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Volker Schlöndorff and Werner Herzog.
The world premiere is at 10:00 p.m. on July 2, 2010, at CinemaxX.
