Women in New York (1977) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Release, runtime and language

1977 · 111 mins · German

Loading streaming availability…

Directed by

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Starring

Eva Mattes, Irm Hermann, Margit Carstensen, Barbara Sukowa, Doris Schade, Anne-Marie Kuster

The story follows wealthy wives whose lives are catered by extensive staff—cook, maid, hairdresser, manicurist, governess, teacher, tailor—so they have no work of their own and rely entirely on their husbands' money. Their thoughts center on the absent “man,” and each competes either to keep her own husband or to steal another’s, creating a rivalry where no actual husband appears on screen.