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

Reviewed by Lori Panossian Viewed at AFI FEST 2013, LA.

The marriage of Maria Braun from 1979 is one of the 44 films directed by the famous german Rainer Wender Fassbinder. The majority of his films can be characterized as what IMDB calls “highly intelligent social melodramas”, and I think that’s the perfect way of explaining The marriage of Maria Braun.
The film is about the aftermath of WW2. You follow this young, strong, self learned lady called Maria Braun (Hanna Schygulla) that gets married to Hermann Braun (Klaus Löwitsch). After only being married to each other for half a day, and a whole night, Hermann has to go to war. Time passes and Hermann is still missing so Maria moves on and creates a new life. “It’s not a good time for feelings” is what she says.
With warm whitebalance and low-key lighting the long scenes makes this film a sad but great love story.
In addition to the great cinematography, something that really stands out in this movie is the acting, I loved it. I think actors in old movies often exaggerate their expressions, however that is not the case it this film.
I would like to end this review with a quote from the film – “Love is only a feeling”.

 

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Published:
11.18.13 / 9pm
Category:
AFI Filmfest 2013, Films