O Casamento de Maria Braun

First and best of Fassbinder's Post-WWII "Wirtschaftswunder" films. His lead character, a young woman, determined to emerge out of Germany's WWII ruins as a success, literally "walks over corpses" to get what she wants. Marrying a man doomed to be among the last to "fall" for the Fuehrer and the German Reich, Maria is now "Frau" instead of "Fraulein". Initially searching for her MIA husband, she eventually gives it up and moves on. Climbing the ladder, Maria Braun has her share of good times. Showering her impoverished family with lavish presents and lifting everyone's life-style up by a notch, Maria becomes the celebrated "Wunderkind" who gets whatever she wants. Although her uppity attitude isn't always popular, and there is plenty of talk about Maria (and her "ways"), Maria Braun laughs it all away. The Marlene Dietrich-like heroine always has the last laugh, as the shocking ending proves.

This is a Modern Classic, one of the very best films to come out of the 1970s/80s German Cinema. Much stronger than "Veronica Foss" and in the league of "Das Boot", "The Marriage of Maria Braun" is a product of Modern German Dramatic Cinema's golden age. No sugar coating, just pure, unadulterated truth as seen through the rear-view mirror of people who have lived the horrors and survived into new tomorrows. A true gem of a film!

Having heard of this film for years, I didn't see it until 2003! Perhaps it's just as well that I waited. It is one of the finest films of its type -- post WW2 in Germany -- that I've ever seen; perhaps on balance the finest.

It seems to me that rather than being a cynical portrayal of those difficult years, it is more truthful and revelatory in a deep way. I imagine that no one other than those who lived then can begin to tell the story, which is why Fassbinder has tried on our behalf -- to try to convey to us the angst, the frustrations, the sadness, the insanity, the querulousness, the fragile hope of that era.

I find the story very sad, of course, because in my early-21st century psyche I'm more tuned into the love story than I am the tale of the sociology and social psychology of an era that occurred when I was very young. It seems to me that if one views the characters as representatives of some of the major "world views" obtaining during the reconstruction period, one sees a few of the many different human reactions there can be to such an experience: Many feel burned out and can't feel hope any longer; others, like Maria, feel there is at least money and position to be gained under the new dispensation; some simply don't care; others try to feed off the experience without contributing; and so on and so forth.

It also occurred to me that, at age 60, I may be in a position to appreciate this film more, and certainly to be more understanding of and sympathetic with the characters/types portrayed. I found each of them to have an important story to tell, whether it was a "good" story or not. And the character of the Black US Army Sergeant, while tragic at the end, was itself an essay in human relations that has to embarrass most Americans -- the fleeting moments when he and Maria found joy and pleasant times together were just wonderful to behold, and an indictment of our sad history in that regard.

View it and see what you think!

Allegory for postwar Germany...examination of modernist female sexuality...Marxist critique of human labor under capitalism...yada, yada. I won't bore you with that prattle. Which isn't to say those idea weren't baked into the movie or that you're wrong to see the movie as deeply philosophical. But it certainly isn't necessary to enjoying the movie.

The Marriage of Maria Braun is a great film without needing to be dissected as some dull academic thesis paper. Maria depicted quite spectacularly by Hanna Schygulla, she plays a character who I can't really decide is tragic or the real "villain." This is one of those weird films where every character is so endearing and well written that it's painful to see things go so off the rails for them.

Ending was a little obvious, and I could argue it was too dumb for the rest of the movie, but overall an amazing production.

A complex, pessimistic tale of post WWII Germany, this is one of Fassbinder's masterpieces that brings a step beyond the classic melodrama form articulated by Douglas Sirk. When Hanna Schygulla says to her husband in prison `this are bad times for feelings' it is Fassbinder saying that in the seventies cinema there's no place for the classic melodrama of the 40s and 50s, unless all the craze that then was suggested now turns somehow more explicit. Fassbinder has a quality of elevating low elements into the realms of High Art, not only through the services of his personal use of the camera, but also through an admirable compassion towards his material.

A woman uses every means possible to survive hardship in post-war West Germany. In doing so she becomes financially successful but loses her soul in the process.

The Marriage of Maria Braun is a film that operates on two different levels. On the one hand in can be seen as a look at one woman's struggle against adversity in the hardships of the post war years. While on another, the film can clearly be read as a critique of the way the new Germany forgot it's awful past and sold it's soul in order to prosper in what would become known as the German Economic Miracle. This latter reading can be determined by reading the main narrative as an allegory in which Maria Braun represents the new Germany. She begins by prostituting herself to the Americans and ends very wealthy but emotionally dead; she forgets her past quickly in order to concentrate on her future.

There is no doubt that Rainer Werner Fassbinder put together a clever allegorical film here. And there is also no doubt that Hanna Schygula is very good in the lead role. But I did have difficulty with empathising with the people in this story, as none of them were particularly likable. Perhaps that was the point of course. But, whatever the case, the film left me cold unfortunately.