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The Marriage Of Maria Braun [1978] [DVD]
 
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The Marriage Of Maria Braun [1978] [DVD]

 Suitable for 15 years and over   DVD
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
Price: £7.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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  • This item: The Marriage Of Maria Braun [1978] [DVD]

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Mephisto [1981] [DVD]

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Product details

  • Format: PAL
  • Language German
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Arrow
  • DVD Release Date: 7 Aug 2006
  • Run Time: 115 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000GRU8TK
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 23,160 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
On learning of the death of her husband at the close of World War II, the young and brilliant Maria Braun pulls herself together and begins an upward climb in the economically-booming capitalist world of post-war Germany. Devastatingly sexy and formidably intelligent, she stops at nothing in her quests for power and wealth. Yet it always remains difficult for the audience to cast judgement on her: this is no crudely-drawn femme fatale caricature, but rather a superbly-acted and highly believable resourceful woman who has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

While the film is clearly a political allegory, it is by no means a simple condemnation of the builders of the new Germany. Fassbinder is much too subtle for that kind of didacticism. Although the shock ending of the film does offer a definite moral for the audience, the film offers a tentative but probing exploration of the post-war mentality. It is particularly evocative in its presentation of the gender roles that were developing at that time. All of this means that, as the credits scroll up, we are asked to re-examine our own society and indeed ourselves. One can imagine that this self-examination process would have been especially relevant to Fassbinder's contemporary audience, but even today and outside Germany, this well-crafted and moving film has much to offer.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
The Marriage of Maria Braun was the first part of Fassbinder's BRD Trilogy, a collective of films that analysed the fall-out of the Second World War on the German subconscious. As a series of films, they are as important, both culturally and cinematically, as the Three Colours Trilogy and von Trier's Goldenheart cycle, proving that contemporary cinema is still capable of presenting a valid and emotionally engaging story with something deeper and more important developing on a subtetxtual level. As with the films aforementioned, Fassbinder's series covers a number of concerns - social & political - through the eyes of three disparate women. Here, we have Maria, who marries as the war is still raging and finds her self alienated & hopeless as her new husband is shipped off to fight for his country.

Fassbinder uses the situation to explore ideas of faith, loyalty and betrayal, by incorporating a sub-plot in which Maria, who believes her husband has been killed during battle, begins a passionate relationship with one of the American G.I.s who hangs out at the bar where she works. The notions that arise from this set up are the same notions and themes that will be fleshed out in the BRD films that would follow, with the external similarities of plot and location being found in the next film Lola, whilst the internal angst and ideas of loneliness and despair can be found in the final film, Veronika Voss. This film is a lot less visual than the two films that follow, though there is certainly a more expressive approach to editing, composition & lighting used by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, similar to the work he did on the director's earlier film, the bitter social satire, Chinese Roulette.

From this, we see an attempt by Fassbinder to distance the audience from the action in the same way he uses exaggerated framing to (visually) distance the characters from one another... a device that is most evident in the scene in which Maria's husband, once believed to be dead, finally arrives home. The set up & the bold, almost, theatrical way in which Fassbinder develops the story makes for great, affecting drama, with the lead actors, in particular Hanna Schygulla, Klaus Löwitsch and Ivan Desny giving strong and believable performances that seem to elevate the film above the realms of something that could have very easily resembled a TV movie of the week. Fassbinder, as always, has a strong command over the proceedings, keeping the story moving at a brisk pace, though still allowing enough room for the film to linger over a moment of poetic transcendence or, true to his theatrical roots, a moment of improvisation from his actors.

The Marriage of Maria Braun is, without question, the highpoint of Fassbinder's intelligent and imaginative trilogy and remains one of my all time favourite films. If you are new to Fassbinder's cinema I would perhaps recommend starting with one of his earlier, less complex films, such as The Merchant of Four Seasons, Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? or ALI: Fear Eats the Soul, which demonstrate the filmmaker's grasp over ideas of simple narrative, characterisation and mise-en-scene without the occasionally distracting notions of politics and social history that we find in these films. If, after those pictures, you still feel compelled to experience the films of Fassbinder, then start here and move through the BRD Trilogy, onto Despair, The Year of 13 Moons, Effi Briest and Querelle.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
If you are new to the Post-war world of Ggerman cinema this is probably the film to start with. It is beautifully shot and very interesting telling the story of life in Germany after the war from a woman's point of view. They are less weii known than Italian and French films of the same era but are fascinating and very worthwhile.
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