The film that elevated German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder from domestic approbation to international acclaim, The Marriage of Maria Braun stars the director's on-and-off favorite actress Hanna Schygulla in the title role. During the allied siege of Germany in the last year of the war, Maria's new husband (Klaus Löwitsch) is shipped off to the Russian front before the marriage is consummated. As she struggles to survive wartime deprivations, Maria haunts the local train station, seeking out
information concerning her husband. When it appears that she's a widow, Maria takes a job as a barmaid and befriends a black soldier (George Byrd) from the occupying allied troops, who sees to it that Maria's family receives vital food and supplies. The opportunistic Maria eventually takes a job with a wealthy importer (Ivan Desny), building herself up to a position of power and indispensability. Though she sleeps with her employer, Maria still carries a torch for her husband. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Fassbinder himself was cruel and distant to those around him, particularly those who loved him, and in Maria Braun, he created an indelible monster who is perversely fascinating.
The Marriage of Maria Braun is both an epic comedy and a romantic ballad, two not especially friendly forms that become seamlessly one in the sweet, tough, brilliantly complex performance of Hanna Schygulla.
Though Fassbinder takes a more open attitude toward his characters, letting them exist as fully developed psychological specimens, his deadly irony continues to operate on the level of mise-en-scene.
The stark atmosphere, icy performances, and poignant revelations make it one of the most important films to emerge from Germany in the 1970s, and one of Fassbinder's best.
The film's epic structure and period detail has always pleased critics, but Fassbinder avoids the usual trappings of the genre and manages a raw intimacy throughout.
This is what happens when theme is emphasized over story--a series of inorganic plot developments constructed to suit Fassbinder's indictment of postwar Germany.
with a bravura performance from hanna schygulla and shot by michael ballhaus, who became scorsese's cinematographer, this is an absolutely stunning film for 1979, and the one that made fassbinder an international star, a mere 3 years before his death. on the surface it's the story of an independent woman who does what
she has to to get ahead in the chaos of post war germany. on another level it's political allegory about germany itself and it's place in history. funny and highly entertaining, fassbinder's aim was to make a german hollywood film and he references some of his favorites, especially curtiz' 'mildred pierce'. really fascinating work.
September 12, 2011
Stella Dallas
Super Reviewer
Another brilliant post WWII response, this film reviews West Germany's Wirtschaftswunder. A compellingly wrought marriage of contradictions: survival and adaptation; idealism and cynicism; compassion and coldness. The final, ironic commentary "Germany has won" raises chilling implications.
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