The film is Fassbinder's last word on victimised innocence, a subjective response to the suicide of his lover and a sincere admission that life is messier than his earlier films acknowledged. Prompted by his love for Anton, Erwin goes to Casablanca for a sex change operation and becomes Elvira. On her return Anton has abandoned her and Elvira's life hereafter seems to consist of violent, humiliating relationships with cruel men and ends with her suicide. This is arguably Fassbinder's ugliest and most challenging film to date. On the surface, the film remains infuriatingly evasive: another manifesto generally testifying to the repression of differences, the immense destructive power of feelings, the fundamental deviousness of human nature, and the Fassbinderian conviction that all relationships are grounded in sadomasochistic 'vicious cycles'.