Frau Farbissina is a fictional character played by Mindy Sterling in the Austin Powers film series. Farbissina is a German attack and defence specialist and the founder of "the militant wing of the Salvation Army". She is also Dr. Evil's henchwoman and tries to help in his schemes to terrorize and take over the world. She has a heavy German accent and is well known for a running gag in which she shouts her orders needlessly loud and screeching, often startling Dr. Evil. For her performances, Sterling was nominated for Favorite Supporting Actress in a Comedy at the BMI Film & TV Awards.
Biography
Characterization
Frau's look and demeanour are parodies of several female villains from early James Bond films, namely From Russia with Love's Rosa Klebb, On Her Majesty's Secret Services Irma Bunt, and particularly the character of Frau Hoffner in the 1967 Bond spoof Casino Royale. In Mike Myers' book Canada, he states that Frau was a mixture of Rosa Klebb and Lotta Hitschmanova, who appeared in commercials for the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada on late-night television. Farbissina asserts that she would eventually like to get out of the criminal mastermind business and open a boarding school for girls. This is another reference to Quayle's "Frau Hoffner" role in Casino Royale in which Hoffner heads an international spy school in East Berlin known as the "Mata Hari School of Dancing", where she boards and trains young women to be agents for both sides of the Cold War.
Surname
Her surname derives from the Yiddish word פאַרביסן farbissen, meaning "embittered"; a farbissiner is an angry, bitter, vocal person, while farbissina is the corresponding female form.
Background
She has a heavy German accent; in the German dubbed versions of the films, she speaks with an Upper Saxon dialect, suggesting coming from East Germany. In Comedy Central's Canned Ham: The Doctor Evil Story, a half-hour-long preview special of The Spy Who Shagged Me, Dr. Evil states that he met Farbissina "at gymnasia in Baden-Baden at a street corner next to the McDonald's." Out of all his henchmen and assistants, Farbissina is perhaps closest to Dr. Evil. In praising Dr. Evil, Farbissina commented, "Dr. Evil is a man of great intelligence - able to step on a bug and say 'too bad!'"
Frau participates in helping Dr. Evil hijack a nuclear warhead and hold the world hostage. It is revealed that Frau used a sample of Evil's semenjust a couple of years after Dr. Evil's cryostasis to artificially create his son, Scott Evil, now a Generation Yyoung adult. Scott is resentful of his father, but close to Frau, the only one who cares about his wellbeing. In the first film, Dr. Evil is about to press a button that would kill Scott for his insolence by burning him alive, but Frau swats his hand away, then winks at Scott.
''The Spy Who Shagged Me">Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me">The Spy Who Shagged Me''
The second film jumps from the 1990s to the 1960s due to time travel. Inexplicably, Frau Farbissina looks exactly the same in the 1960s as she did in the 1990s, which was used for comedic effect in the film. In the present, she states that she is homosexual and is in a relationship with Una Brau, a woman she met on a LPGA tour. However, when Dr. Evil goes back in time, after imbibing some of Austin Powers' mojo, he has sex with Frau. This leads to an uncomfortable morning-after encounter and Farbissina swearing she will never love another man. In the closing credits, Farbissina and Scott Evil go on The Jerry Springer Show, in which she reveals herself to be Scott's mother. She also reveals she never told him because she didn't want him to be hurt; he forgives her and they embrace.
''Goldmember">Austin Powers in Goldmember">Goldmember''
Frau is still helping Dr. Evil with his evil schemes. Frau and Dr. Evil also kiss while he is in prison; although the two enjoy it, the purpose was to transfer a key to Dr. Evil so that he could escape. Once her son Scott begins to become evil, she shows that she is very proud.
