FILMY TALES
5
The Marriage of Maria Braun
About the Director:
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945 - 1982) was a German film director, screenwriter, and actor. In the thirteen years of his career, Fassbinder made over forty films about social and political issues, including both The Marriage of Maria Braun as well as Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. At the core of Fassbinder's work was a desire to provoke people and make them uncomfortable. These proclivities earned him the reputation as the 'enfant terrible' of New German Cinema, but also helped to make him a standout figure in the genre. Fassbinder's life came to a tragic end in 1982 as the result of a lethal overdose of illegal narcotics.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1979 film The Marriage of Maria Braun is without a doubt one of the greatest works the German filmmaker ever produced. It tells the story of sharp and ambitious woman, Maria Braun (Hanna Schygulia) who utilizes her sexual prowess to achieve economic prosperity—all against the backdrop of an evolving Germany. While Braun's husband, Hermann (Kurt Lowitsch) is off fighting in the Second World War, Maria begins a relationship with a Black American soldier named Bill (George Byrd). Once Hermann returns, however, Maria murders the G.I. and Hermann volunteers to go to jail in her place. With him gone yet again, Maria takes a business opportunity with a wealthy entrepreneur, coolly manipulating him and others within the company in order to bring herself into power.
Whilst watching The Marriage of Maria Braun, one comes the realization that Germany's economic miracle would not have happened without the help of the Americans as well as Maria Braun. Maria's steadfast loyalty to herself and her interests, coupled with her icy determination and complete disregard for consequences are shown in the film to practically move mountains of post-war economic and emotional rubble. The film is both a comedy and a romance—two genres that do not necessarily go hand in hand outside of cheesy box-office failures—tied together by the brilliant performance of Schygulia, who manages to give a complex, multi-layered performance of Maria.
Although the character of Maria allows several different interpretations, the most logical is viewing Maria as an allegory for postwar Germany's relationship to its past. Fassbinder's political inclinations were well known, and this interpretation opens the discussion that the film is in fact a critical look at West German politics; Maria Braun tells the story of Germany after the war: success coming at a price, loss of emotions, economic realism and a rabid materialism. Many film analysts have gone on to say that the German economic miracle, as depicted in the film, can be equated to a loss of soul; that is, to achieve economic success is to lose part of your soul. This interpretation, again, is well suited to Fassbinder's political leanings, as most often, his films are unflinchingly critical of the rich and privileged.
Fassbinder shot this film in an extremely visual manner; closeups of keys, cigarettes, and pictures are all used sporadically throughout the film to focus the viewer's attention. Often these closeups are done to make the viewer feel uncomfortable, a technique that Fassbinder utilized frequently in tandem with stilted camera work. Sound is also experimented with in the film, in that a radio is nearly always blasting or there are jackhammer sounds in the background of a scene here and there; these moments are intended to remind the viewer of the film's historical scene as well as of the rebuilding that is taking place in Germany thanks to the economic miracle.
Moreover, Fassbinder's film is unusually touching in a way that his film typically lack —one reason for this, perhaps, is that there is no easily defined villain in the entire movie. Maria, Oswald, Maria's wealthy lover and plaything who introduces her to the business world (Ivan Desny), and Hermaan are each in their own way grappling with unfortunate fates. None is an optimist or a sentimentalist, but all have hope for their futures (even if they know it is not worth having), which is what makes the film one of the most nuanced, interesting, and complex pieces of work in the last century.