Die Ehe der Maria Braun (1979)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (dialogue)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (story)

Release Date:

23 March 1979 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The Marriage Of Maria Braun. . . the marriage lasted no longer than half a day and a full night.

Plot:

This movie follows the life of a young German woman, married to a soldier in the waning days of WWII...

Plot Keywords:

Soldier | Fascism | German Soldier | Homecoming Soldier | Male Frontal Nudity

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 12 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Hanna Schygulla	...	Maria Braun
Klaus Löwitsch	...	Hermann Braun
Ivan Desny	...	Karl Oswald
Gisela Uhlen	...	Mother
Elisabeth Trissenaar	...	Betti Klenze
Gottfried John	...	Willi Klenze
Hark Bohm	...	Senkenberg
George Eagles	...	Bill (as George Byrd)
Claus Holm	...	Doctor
Günter Lamprecht	...	Hans Wetzel (as Günther Lamprecht)
Anton Schiersner	...	Grandpa Berger
Lilo Pempeit	...	Frau Ehmke
Sonja Neudorfer	...	Red Cross nurse
Volker Spengler	...	Train conductor
Isolde Barth	...	Vevi

Also Known As:

The Marriage of Maria Braun (USA)

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German | English

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:M | West Germany:12 (f) | UK:15 (video rating) | UK:AA | Finland:K-12 (re-rating) | Finland:K-15 (re-rating) (2004) | Finland:K-16 (original rating) | Singapore:R(A) | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Albatros Filmproduktion

Trivia:

Director Cameo: [Rainer Werner Fassbinder]Peddler who sells Maria the black dress

Quotes:

Mother: It's wrong to give all your love to only one person, Grandpa. If you don't have potatoes, you eat turnips. When the turnips are gone, you eat gruel. But every girl loves her one and only. He goes to war; five months later he's dead, and you mourn the rest of your life. Does that make sense to you, Grandpa? It drowns you.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Kinomagazin: Eine deutsche Geschichte - Rainer Werner Fassbinder und sein Film 'Die Ehe der Maria Braun'" (1995)

Soundtrack:

In The Mood

Amorality, greed, cynicism, and narcissism.

This is the best of the 43 films that Rainer Werner Fassbinder made; his most successful at least. He was one of the leading directors in the New Germany after WWII.

Hanna Schygulla was magnificent as the cold, calculating Maria Bruan, who lost her husband to the War, found him after she took an American soldier as a lover, lost him again after he went to jail for her, and found him agin at the end. Her day and a half marriage before he disappeared was longer than their time together at the end.

Such is life. Things come and go, and you do the best you can. You can give up or adjust you way of thinking to survive. Even though Maria adjusted her thinking and did what she had to do, she never stopped loving Hermann, which makes the end such a tragedy.

Excellent drama.