Filme von Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Bremer Freiheit (Bremen Freedom)

The subject of this film is a true case that happened in the city of Bremen: The story of citizen Geesche Gottfried (Margit Carstensen), widowed Miltenberger, who killed 15 people, among them her mother, her father, her children, two husbands and other persons from her immediate environs, while her fellow-citizens had considered her a respectable, god-fearing woman. In the end, she was unmasked and beheaded in 1831 – the last public execution in Bremen. Bremen Freedom is not a thriller. It is not the intention of the piece to gradually unmask the culprit. Like in a ballad, the killings are arranged in a kaleidoscope. The murderer’s motive is of interest in this play, but not how she is convicted. Geesche Gottfried murders because she wants to be free and because she does not want to be one of the men’s “pets”. “This was not a life, Michael, what mother lived there. In that case, death is a blessing for someone,” says Geesche Gottfried after murdering her own mother.

Produktionsjahr
1972
Regie
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Buch
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, after his own play; adopted for TV by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Dietrich Lohmann by incorporating elements developed with the actors of the Bremen Schauspielhaus under the direction of Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Kamera
Dietrich Lohmann, Hans Schugg, Peter Weyrich
Musik
Archiv
Schnitt
Friedrich Niquet, Monika Solzbacher
Ausstattung
Kurt Raab
Besetzung
Margit Carstensen (Geesche) Ulli Lommel (Miltenberger) Wolfgang Schenck (Gottfried) Walter Sedlmayr (priest) Wolfgang Kieling (Timm) Rudolf Waldemar Brem (Cousin Bohm) Kurt Raab (Zimmermann) Fritz Schediwy (Johann) Hanna Schygulla (Luise Maurer) Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Rumpf) Lilo Pempeit (mother)
Produktion
Telefilm Saar (commissioned by Saarländischer Rundfunks)
Format
2-inch magnetic tape, Color, 87 min.