Film Archive
Marriage of Maria Braun, The (Ehe der Maria Braun, Die)
Hermann and Maria Braun's marriage lasts only one day and one night before Hermann is called to the front. After the war he is reported missing. Yet Maria believes he is still alive. Maria becomes the mistress of a GI whom she accidentally kills when Hermann returns unexpectedly. Hermann answers for the killing and goes to jail in her stead. While he is away she makes a successful career in the economic boom of postwar Germany. At the height of her success, Maria, Hermann, their house and worldly goods are destroyed in an explosion.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder was born in 1945 and died in 1982. He was one of the most significant directors of the “New German Cinema”. In just 13 years, between 1969 and 1982, he made 44 films, including Katzelmacher (1969), The Merchant of Four Seasons (Der Haendler der vier Jahreszeiten, 1971), The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Die bitteren Traenen der Petra von Kant, 1972), Fear Eats the Soul (Angst essen Seele auf, 1973), Fontane Effi Briest (1974), Despair (1978), The Marriage of Maria Braun (Die Ehe der Maria Braun, 1979), Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), Lili Marleen (1981), Lola (1981), and Querelle (1982), among others. He wrote 14 plays, revised six others and directed 25. He wrote four radio plays and 37 screenplays and worked on a further 13 scripts with other writers. Fassbinder's films are among the most valid social documents produced between the late 60s and early 80s in Germany; his plays are among the most performed of any post-war German dramatist.
Genre Drama
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 1979
Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Screenplay Pea Froehlich, Peter Maerthesheimer
Director of Photography Michael Ballhaus
Editors Juliane Lorenz, Franz Walsch
Music by Peer Raben
Producer Michael Fengler
Production Companies Albatros Film, Tango Film/Munich, Trio Film, in co-production with WDR/Cologne
Principal Cast Ivan Desny, Klaus Loewitsch, Hanna Schygulla, Gisela Uhlen
Length 120 min, 3,296 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85
Dubbed Versions English, French, Italian
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions English, French, Spanish
Sound Technology Mono
Festival Screenings Berlin 1979 (in competition), Moscow 2010
Awards Silver Bear Berlin 1979, German Film Award 1979 Best Direction
German Distributor Futura Film/Leipzig
World Sales
Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation
Giesebrechtstrasse 7
10629 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-8 87 24 90
fax +49-30-88 72 49 29
email: info@fassbinderfoundation.de
http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 1979
Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Screenplay Pea Froehlich, Peter Maerthesheimer
Director of Photography Michael Ballhaus
Editors Juliane Lorenz, Franz Walsch
Music by Peer Raben
Producer Michael Fengler
Production Companies Albatros Film, Tango Film/Munich, Trio Film, in co-production with WDR/Cologne
Principal Cast Ivan Desny, Klaus Loewitsch, Hanna Schygulla, Gisela Uhlen
Length 120 min, 3,296 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85
Dubbed Versions English, French, Italian
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions English, French, Spanish
Sound Technology Mono
Festival Screenings Berlin 1979 (in competition), Moscow 2010
Awards Silver Bear Berlin 1979, German Film Award 1979 Best Direction
German Distributor Futura Film/Leipzig
World Sales
Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation
Giesebrechtstrasse 7
10629 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-8 87 24 90
fax +49-30-88 72 49 29
email: info@fassbinderfoundation.de
http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de