The Merchant of Four Seasons, set in Munich in the “prosperous fifties,” shows how that hollow phrase reflects failure back on itself for the average Hans, whose path in life might depend more upon the treacheries of family than the vagaries of the marketplace. This particular Hans (Hans Hirschmüller), a street vendor, is despised as he is dominated by his mother, then by his wife (Irm Hermann). Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s approach combines distance with grisly humor, a stark and startlingly elegant tableau saturated with color—Douglas Sirk’s reds and blues for the Sirk-inspired dreams of a ridiculous man.