The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films presents Ticket of No Return.
The it-girl of the West German art subculture, Tabea Blumenschein, stars as a nameless, silent stranger with a one-way ticket to Berlin and a plan to drink herself to death. While touring high class bars, queer nightspots, and seedy dives, she befriends a struggling homeless woman and runs across a trio of prim, judgemental women known as Social Question, Accurate Statistics, and Common Sense. With Blumenschein’s extravagant costumes and writer/director/cinematographer Ulrike Ottinger’s eye for a city still struggling to lift itself out of the bombed-out depression of World War II, Ticket of No Return is an unforgettably unique tour of Berlin and a deliciously shrewd example of feminist camp.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Restored 4K digital transfer, overseen by director Ulrike Ottinger, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- New interview with Ottinger
- Berlinfever – Wolf Vostell, Ottinger’s 16 minute short film of a 1973 Happening organized by artist and friend Wolf Vostell
- Gallery of Ottinger’s workbook used to develop and produce the film
- Gallery featuring rare behind-the-scenes production photos
- An excerpt from Gérard Courant’s Cinématon (2009) featuring Ottinger
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by critic Michael Koresky
Make Mine Criterion! 