Fassbinder on Arte
On Wednesday, 27 May the French-German TV broadcaster is presenting a double feature dedicated to the work of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. This evening of RWF begins at 8:15 p.m. with one of director’s biggest successes, THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN, featuring Hanna Schygulla in the lead role. Using the tools of melodrama, the film tells the story of the eponymous heroine, who is forced to adapt to the exigencies of post-war Germany and in the process embarks on a career that takes her from bar hostess to mistress of a wealthy industrialist. THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN proved to be Fassbinder’s most commercially successful film up until that point in his career and is the first part of his so-called BRD trilogy, followed by LOLA and VERONIKA VOSS. Arte is showing the version of the film restored in 2012 with the help of funding from the Filmerbe Content program.
At 10:10 p.m. Arte is showing the documentary FASSBINDER directed by Annekatrin Hendel (ANDERSON). The film was coproduced by the Fassbinder Foundation and is currently on release in German cinemas. Marking the seventieth anniversary of Fassbinder’s birth, the film looks at the director from a contemporary perspective and features the voices not only of old friends and colleagues but also – by way of texts and film excerpts – of RWF himself. Hendel shows how closely the life and work of one of West Germany’s most important film-makers were bound up with one another.
More information:
Air date:
Wednesday, 27 May 2015
8:15 p.m. THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN (repeat: Tuesday, 2 June at 1 a.m.)
10:10 p.m. FASSBINDER
Web page of the petition “Filmerbe in Gefahr” (Film Heritage under Threat)
Film info on THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN
Photo left: THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN, © RWFF
Photo right: © RWFF