The Marriage of Maria Braun

One of Fassbinder’s must successful films both in Germany and internationally, Die Ehe der Maria Braun stars the incompatible Hanna Schygulla in the title role as a woman who is forced to constantly shift her loyalties and lovers in order to keep her marriage going. Sounds a little unorthodox? Welcome to the world of Fassbinder!

When Maria (H. Schygulla) marries soldier Hermann Braun (Klaus Löwitsch) during an Allied bombing raid on Germany in 1943, the happy couple have only half a day and one entire night together before Hermann must return to the front. Utterly convinced that he will return safe, Maria is crushed upon learning some time later that he has been killed in action. Outwardly keeping a brave façade she desperately seeks employment in her war-torn town in order to keep herself and her mother (Gisela Uhlen) afloat, eventually finding employment in a bar frequented by GI’s. It’s there that she makes she acquaintance of Bill (George Byrd), a black soldier with whom she begins a relationship in exchange for cigarettes and stockings. During one of their sexual encounters back in Maria’s place her husband Hermann suddenly appears out of nowhere – his apparent death was false information and he’s very much alive. Understandably he’s not to happy seeing his wife and her lover half-naked in a passionate embrace and a fight ensues during which Maria smashes a bottle over Bill’s head, killing him unintentionally. Realising that she still loves him, Hermann takes the blame for the tragedy even after she confesses to being pregnant by Bill… and goes to prison instead of Maria. After an abortion Maria is hell-bent on proving her love to Hermann and wants to make up for her ‘sins’… Her plan is to find a proper job by all means necessary and become wealthy enough to buy a house, so that she and Herman can live together happily after his release from prison.

During a train journey she encounters well-to-do industrialist Karl Oswald (Ivan Desny) and in her flirty manner has him wrapped round her finger in no time. Indeed, one must wonder how Maria always manages to look so impossibly glamorous throughout the film, given the fact that we are talking a time when people often lost their possessions and more thanks to the war. No prices for guessing that Oswald offers her a job as his assistant and soon she can add ‘mistress’ to her resume as well. Whilst Oswald, who suffers from a terminal illness (initially he keeps the results to himself) becomes ever more obsessed with Maria she maintains her absolute love for Hermann although she admits to liking Oswald a lot. Of course, he is also the ticket to get her out of her financial worries. Unbelievably she tells her husband about her infidelities during her visits in prison, and tells Oswald of her love for Hermann. Both take it in their stride – either they must be the most open-minded men imaginable or seriously deluded… though ones gets the impression that it is Maria who keeps deluding herself by assuming the men in her life bend with every of her whims. One day Oswald – unbeknownst to Maria – visits Hermann in prison, not only because he wants to meet the very man who is his big ‘competition’ but to offer a deal: he will make Maria and Hermann heirs to his wealth after his death, under condition that Hermann goes abroad once released from prison and won’t return until Oswald has died. Accepting the offer, he goes to Australia and Canada after his release with the pretence that first he must become a man and human being again before returning to Maria. There is no mention of Oswald’s visit; instead, Hermann leaves a letter for his wife in which he lies about the reasons for going abroad - promising that he will regularly send her a red rose with news from him. Now a wealthy woman, Maria buys her huge house in the country though she’s not a happy woman… quarrels with her mother increase and despite the size of her house she won’t have her mother and her boyfriend move in. Her best friend Betti Klenze (Elisabeth Trissenaar) is miserable over the gradual breakdown of her marriage to Willi (Gottfried John) while Willi confesses to Maria he would prefer to have a wife as strong-minded and adventurous as she is.
Amidst all the domestic chaos Maria is informed of Oswald’s sudden passing in his sleep. Several weeks later, Hermann returns (though Maria has no idea as to the real reasons for his return) and the pair live re-united in her house when one day the doorbell rings. Oswald’s former bookkeeper and loyal friend Senkenberg (Hark Bohm) appears with a female notary to read out Oswald’s last will to the couple. It is then that Maria learns of the deal that hubby and Oswald struck some years previously, while Hermann was still imprisoned… and it finally dawns on her as to why he really left for Australia. In shock over all those lost years she and Hermann could have had together were it not for Oswald’s proposal, she walks upstairs with the excuse of a severe headache. Minutes later, a gas explosion rips through one part of the building, claiming her life. It is not explained whether it was an accident or suicide.

Sumptuously photographed by stalwart cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BROWN (1979) is a treat to look at and gives a real sense of the ‘Deutsches Wirtschaftswunder’ (German economy miracle) shortly after the war. The acting, although at times somewhat stilted, is in keeping with the goings-on and main stars Hanna Schygulla, Ivan Desny and Klaus Löwitsch give bravura performances.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Brand new 4K restoration from original camera negatives
· High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
· Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
· Optional English subtitles
· Life, Love & Celluloid, a 1998 feature-length documentary on Fassbinder, written and directed by his regular editor, Juliane Lorenz
· Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1977, a candid 30-minute interview with the director
· The Fassbinder Family, an all-new featurette detailing the actors who worked with Fassbinder time and again throughout his career