Filme von Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Die Ehe der Maria Braun (The Marriage of Maria Braun)

It is World War II, and bombs are dropping all around. This is when Hermann Braun (Klaus Löwitsch) and Maria (Hanna Schygulla) get married. They have one single night together before the husband must return to the front. After the war – they say her husband died – Maria has an affair with the black G.I. Bill (George Byrd). But Hermann returns home unexpectedly from captivity. In her confrontation with husband and lover, Maria hits Bill with a bottle. He dies. Hermann pleads guilty and is sentenced to jail. Maria meets the industrialist Oswald (Ivan Desny) and becomes an indispensable part of his life and his firm. All the time she awaits Hermann’s release. When the time comes, Hermann disappears without a trace. He resurfaces only after Oswald’s death. Maria learns about a contract between the two men: Whereas Hermann sacrifices Maria as long as Oswald lives, the latter makes the couple his heir in return. Instead of the long-awaited celebration a catastrophe happens: Maria – intentionally or not? – leaves the gas oven on, and during the 1954-radio broadcast when the German soccer team is winning the world championship, an enormous explosion destroys the house.

Weltvertrieb
R.W.F. Werkschau

Verleih (D)
Basis-Film

Produktionsjahr
1978
Regie
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Buch
Peter Märthesheimer, Pea Fröhlich, based on Rainer Werner Fassbinder's idea
Kamera
Michael Ballhaus
Musik
Peer Raben
Schnitt
Juliane Lorenz und Franz Walsch
Kostüme
Barbara Baum
Besetzung
Hanna Schygulla (Maria) Klaus Löwitsch (Hermann) Ivan Desny (Oswald) Gottfried John (Willi) Gisela UhIen (mother) Günter Lamprecht (Wetzel) George Byrd (Bill) Elisabeth Trissenaar (Betti) Isolde Barth (Vevi) Peter Berling (Bronski) Sonja Neudorfer (Red Cross nurse) Liselotte Eder (Frau Ehmke) Volker Spengler (conductor) Karl-Heinz von Hassel (public prosecutor) Michael Ballhaus (lawyer) Christine Hopf-de Loup (notary public) Hark Bohm (Senkenberg) Horst Dieter Klock (man with a car) Günther Kaufmann (GI on the train) Bruce Low (American at the conference) Rainer Werner Fassbinder (black market dealer) Claus Holm (doctor) Anton Schirsner (Grandpa Berger) Hannes Kaetner (registrar) Martin Häussler (reporter) Norbert Scherer (first guard) Rolf Bührmann (second guard) Arthur Glogau (third guard)
Produktion
Albatros / Trio Film / WDR
Format
35 mm, color, 120 min.