That epilogue! Mind=blown. Oh Fassbinder you crazy, beautiful genius...

It's not cut into episodes to make it better watchable. It's cut into episodes because it was produced as a TV Mini-Series. I tried to watch it in 2 sessions (but had to delay the second half of the epilogue to another day because of a DVD failure). It's certainly exhausting this way so I think I'd only watch a few episodes at a time when I revisit it.

A masterpiece that grew on me so very slowly. Typically films-of-a-certain-length invite you to inhabit the physical spaces of their worlds, like Satantango or Dekalog. This one makes you inhabit the psyche of its main character, which is a claustrophobic feeling for the first 14 hours until the epilogue blows the lid off.