The marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979): Germany

Reviewed by Emelie Eriksson. Viewed at AFI Filmfest Hollywood 2013.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s drama “The marriage of Maria Braun” is a well written story about a strong woman and her life as a German woman after World War II. I feel like you mostly see how it was for others then the Germans after the war so this film really made me think about the German people and what they have been through with the whole world against them. With one nombination for Golden Globe and  another 15 wins & 2 nominations, I can strongly recommend this film that I had the honor to watch at the AFI Filmfest 2013.

A wedding between Maria Braun(Hanna Schygulla) and Hermann Braun (Klaus Lowitsch) in the middle of World War II. Bombs are falling and they have to escape for security. Hermann gets send out to war, but Maria doesn’t break down for that, she still walks around the town with red lips, perfectly white skin, fashionable clothes and a thick layer of eyeshadow. Maria is a very confident, strong and independent woman and seduces all the men, especially a African-American soldier named Bill (George Eagles), but she still values her love for Hermann. Their affair turns out to a pregnancy right at the time Hermann completely out of nowhere returns from the dead, walking in on them undressing each other. A fight breaks out and Bill dies and Maria does an abortion. Hermann ends up in jail but Maria soon lay her eyes on another man,  Karl Oswald (Ivan Desny) and he hires her as his assistant and Maria becomes his mistress. Maria is still loyal to Hermnann and she loves him, so what will happen when he gets out of jail? The last scene came as a big surprise to me and I felt empty when I left the theater.

Hanna Schygualla,  who starred in 20 of Fassbinder’s films, goes a great job playing Maria Braun. She lives out the character to the fullest and succeed even seduce the entire audience. The film involves a lot of naked scenes, mostly in the dark, which I think brought up the beauty of sex.

You get to follow Maria on her journey from a desperate poor to a rich beauty and you kind of get your own relationship with her. Her world was blown to pieces but she still has the strength to continue on living. As a woman I am glad that I had the chance to watch this film and I found it very inspiring and I think that every women out here should watch this film and be inspired by Maria Braun.