Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “The marriage of Maria Braun” is one of the most important films in German film history – this evening he runs on Arte at 8:15 p.m.
Hardly any other name stands for German author film as that of Rainer Werner Fassbinder: In just 15 years he brought it to a proud total work of 40 films, in which he worked on German themes in his very own style. In his films, he dealt with Germany’s Nazi past and the RAF terror-but also showed how power and social structures affect people.
As an enfant terrible, he held a mirror to society and opened social contradictions in his films. So also in “The marriage of Maria Braun”From 1979, which, alongside“ Lola ”and“ The Longing of the Veronika Voss ”, represents a central work of his FRG trilogy. “The marriage of Maria Braun” was a huge commercial success at the time, Fassbinder brought the silver bear, a golden globe nominator and international reputation.
To date, the film is one of the key works of German film history and also in the official film start criticism there was a full score with 5 out of 5 stars. You can “”The marriage of Maria Braun“” (of course advertising -free) at 8:15 p.m. on ARTE. Alternatively, you have the option on Amazon Prime Video in the Arthaus+Channel. The ProBabo is free for seven days, after which you pay 3.99 euros a month.
“The marriage of Maria Braun” on Arthaus+
Germany in a woman’s body
Especially at the moment when Maria (Hannah Schygulla) and Hermann Braun are to be marryed, the registry office is destroyed by a flying bomb. Hermann (Klaus Löwitsch) is called back to the front and so the newly married person has nothing more than to take her life into her own hands – especially when she receives the news that Hermann had fallen in the war. She earns her living as a bard name and begins a love affair with African -American Gi Bill (George Byrd). But when Hermann reappears unexpectedly, reunion ends tragically … And Maria’s life takes another turn in which she has to prove herself with her intelligence and efficiency.
The marriage of Maria Braun is one that is not at all – more of an idea than reality. Hardly married, the man is already in the war, later in prison, then in Canada. Nevertheless, Maria brings it to prosperity by ambitious and pragmatic. Maria Braun stands as a symbol of the economic miracle, for all the possibilities to build life on the ruins of the war.
Maria secures her position with all the means available to her – above all, these are her appearance and charm. In doing so, it uses patriarchal structures, adapts to them – to a certain extent it becomes independent, but never free. Because “contracts” always talk about “efficiency” – their femininity becomes a strategic resource, not an identity. And the later unveiling that Hermann and Oswald have concluded a contract to “share” Maria, finally questioned her emancipation.
Fassbinder thus reflects the society by the figure of Maria Braun: he puts the transfigured idea of the economic miracle to the pillory by comparing her a cold, calculating world in which feelings have no place. It shows how deep patriarchal structures actually sit – so deep that even the most emancipated women cannot be free of it. The home -style order is criticized and questioned, German virtues as well as discipline too. That ends uncomfortable and with a big bang – but is definitely worth seeing.
Speaking of German cinema: On August 14, 2025, the continuation of one of the most successful German films of the post -war period starts in cinemas. In the following article you will find all the information about it and of course the trailer for “The Kanu des Manitu”:
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