Cabaret

A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.

• Director: Bob Fosse
• Genre:Drama / Musical
• Runtime:118 minutes

Cast

Liza Minnelli : Sally Bowles
Michael York : Brian Roberts
Helmut Griem : Maximilian von Heune
Joel Grey : Master of Ceremonies
Fritz Wepper : Fritz Wendel

In early 1930s Berlin, American singer Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) performs at the Kit Kat Klub. A new arrival in the city, Brian Roberts (Michael York), moves into Sally’s apartment building. A reserved English academic and writer, Brian gives English lessons to earn a living while completing his German studies. Sally unsuccessfully tries to seduce Brian and suspects he may be gay (Christopher Isherwood, on whose semi-autobiographical book the film is indirectly based, was gay and reportedly “went to Berlin in search of boys to love”).

Brian tells Sally that on three previous occasions he has tried to have physical relationships with women, all of which have failed. The unlikely pair become friends, and Brian is witness to Sally’s anarchic, bohemian life in the last days of the German Weimar Republic. Later in the film, Sally and Brian become lovers despite their earlier reservations, and Brian and Sally conclude with irony that his previous failures with women were because they were “the wrong three girls.”

Sally befriends Maximilian von Heune, a rich playboy baron who takes her and Brian to his country estate. It becomes ambiguous which of the duo Max is seducing, epitomized by a scene in which the three dance intimately together in a wine-induced reverie. After a (presumably) bad sexual experience with Brian, Max loses interest in the two, and departs from Berlin. When Sally triumphantly tells Brian that she slept with Max, Brian begins to laugh and reveals that he slept with Max as well. After the ensuing argument, Brian storms off and picks a fight with a group of Nazis, who beat him senseless. Brian and Sally make up in their rooming house, where Sally reveals that Max left them an envelope of money.

Later on, Sally finds out that she’s pregnant and is unsure whether Brian or Max is the father. Brian offers to marry her and take her back to his university life in Cambridge, but Sally realizes they could never coexist in such a life and proceeds with a planned abortion. When Brian confronts her, she shares her fears and the two reach an understanding. The film ends with Brian departing for England by train, and Sally continuing her life in Berlin, singing “Cabaret” to a highly appreciative audience. Read more