In the unlikely love between a washerwoman (Brigitte Mira) and a Moroccan guest worker (El Hedi ben Salem) twenty years her junior, muscular Ali and diminutive Emmi redefine each other. They wall off the hatred of neighbors, shopkeepers, and horrid children for a little bit of heaven, until they are unexpectedly defeated by a plate of couscous. This is Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s most beautiful homage to Douglas Sirk, his interpretation of All That Heaven Allows. Nowhere is his trademark framing—the indoor long shot—more aptly integrated, nowhere his jewel-box colors more brilliantly contrasted with the reality they adorn.