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Carousel Of Consumerism: Austrian Filmmaker Barbara Albert’S Critique Of Contemporary Society In Böse Zellen, Beret Norman

World Languages Faculty Publications and Presentations

All of Austrian filmmaker Barbara Albert’s three feature films, Nordrand (Northern Skirts) (1999), Böse Zellen (Free Radicals) (2003) and Fallen (Falling) (2006), portray human relationships in flux and depict people reacting to changes in the world. These films critique society obliquely as they present damaged figures in their attempts to shape a meaningful existence. Albert always manages to keep the viewer floating on the side of this latter point—that of looking for a meaningful existence, even though the social setting often appears so meaningless and commercialized. In Böse Zellen the building and opening of a new shopping mall play a …