Lili Marleen (film) Lili Marleen (film) Lili Marleen is a 1981 West German drama film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and starring Hanna Schygulla. The screenplay was produced using the autobiographical novel "Der Himmel hat viele Farben" ("The Heavens Have Many Colors") by Lale Andersen. However, according to Lale Andersen's last husband, Arthur Beul, the film's plot bore little relation to her real life. The film is set during the Third Reich and is about the forbidden love between the German singer Willie (Hanna Schygulla) and the Swiss Jewish composer Robert Mendelssohn (a character based on Rolf Liebermann), who actively seeks to help
The Marriage of Maria Braun and even amusing film, at the same time extraordinarily artful, artificial and full of twists and turns". Hanna Schygulla was praised by many film critics. In the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" on 23 March 1979 Gottfried Knapp wrote that the director gave her a magnificent opportunity to display her acting talent, and that her character, emotions, charm and energy had an enormous effect. The film and Hanna Schygulla were also praised by foreign film critics. In "The New Yorker" David Denby called Schygulla "an improbable cross between Dietrich and Harlow". Schygulla, too, was the runner-up for the National Society of Film Critics