"This film depicts six months in the life of the Bronski family," recites the narrator in a dry, impersonal voice, as if describing a scientific experiment or natural history documentary. The camera observes the chaos of the family at home, the unapologetic chauvinist of a husband constantly bellowing to keep the children quiet and refusing to pitch in with the child care, the shopping or the cooking. It then follows Roswitha to her office, hidden in another part of town. "In order to have more children herself, Roswitha runs an abortion practice," explains the narrator, putting the contradictions of her life right up front. Kluge's method is part political confrontation and part social satire, but easily the most confrontational moment comes in the first few minutes when Roswitha performs an abortion and the film simulates the procedure in explicit, clinical detail, right down to expulsion of the tiny fetus that is more symbolic representation than biological reality.
The first half of the film follows the complications of her illegal profession performed in the margins of society -- a conflict with an arrogant gynecologist, a crisis when the victim of a botched operation by a rival abortionist comes seeking help, a complaint to the police by the rival trying to deflect blame on to Roswitha (and close her down in the process). Even as Franz admits that her job is supporting the family and his studies, he shows complete disdain for her work and no sympathy for the stress of her responsibilities compounded by his own demands (though he does show uncharacteristic cooperation when the police arrive at the doorstep). The satire of patriarchy, with its patronizing men and contemptuous authority figures, is carved out of her experiences in sharp relief.
Kluge shifts tone in the second half of the film, after Roswitha and her partner close the clinic down and turn their focus from the family to social protest and political action. The film takes a more dryly satirical tone as her idealistic efforts collide with the political realities of a corporate world that doesn't take her seriously and a media more concerned with exploitable events than issues of air pollution, child safety or outsourcing jobs. Yet for all the humor of the scenes, where Roswitha appears to be acting out a parody of political activism as seen in the movies, Kluge respects her idealism (which actress Alexandra portrays with guilelessness conviction), her commitment and her unflagging drive to make real change in an obstinate world.
As the title suggests, Part-Time Work Of A Domestic Slave is the work of a politically engaged filmmaker confronting social, sexual and economic issues of his culture: the sexist double standards, the plight of individuals in the face of corporate and institutional power, the pressures of raising a family and making a living while remaining true to one's ideals in the material world. While not in any way a "realistic" portrait (so many of Kluge's characters are little more than symbols of authority, arrogance and chauvinism), Kluge shoots his portraits of family life and political engagement in documentary-like manner, on location and on the fly, to give it a lively immediacy, and he intersperses her story with essay-like commentaries in text and spoken narration, much of it ironic.
Like so many of the filmmakers in the early years of New German Cinema, inspired by the explosion of political cinema in the wake of the French New Wave and the work of Jean-Luc Godard, Kluge is exploring the possibilities of the medium to express political ideas and social criticism within a German context. Part-Time Work Of A Domestic Slave makes its political points through humor and irony as well as didactic confrontation, but the story of Roswitha, the overwhelmed mother turned Alice in political protest-land, keeps us with the film, and Alexandra's performance keeps us with Roswitha. Her opaque, open face and forthright intensity makes Roswitha's campaign utterly sincere and impassioned, which only makes the film more affecting as we see her fumbling along idealism and drive in the face of impersonal power.
Facets Video's DVD is presented in the squarish 1.33:1 aspect ratio with slight vertical matting. The image quality of the B&W production is clean and undamaged and the audio is fine. The weaknesses in each are inherent in the original production. The film is in German with English subtitles and is accompanied by the 1963 short documentary Teachers in Transformation. A satirical portrait of the educational system that turns into a study of three teachers in hostile circumstances, Kluge made it in collaboration with his sister Karen Kluge, before she changed her name to Alexandra.
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by Sean Axmaker
