My Grading System

A+ = Masterpiece (I hold back on this one.) / A = Great. / A- = Really Good. / B+ = Good. / B = Decent (Serviceable). / B- = Flawed but okay (For those times there's something redeeming about the work). / C+ = Not very good (Skip it). C = Bad. / C- = Awful. / F = Complete Disaster (I hold back on this one too).

Note on Spoilers: I will try to avoid ruining a story by going into too much detail. But if I wish to include some revealing points to my analysis I will try to remember to add a separate spoiler paragraph.

Friday, April 19, 2013

The Marriage of Maria Braun (1975)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's first in a trilogy dealing with women after WWII.  This is Hanna Schygulla most cherished role, that of the lead character Maria.  What Maria will do for her husband has less to do about love and more about self-empowerment.  Even against her own feelings, she will conquer the new Germany using her brains and her sexuality.  Layered with metaphors and sexual politics and shocking turns of fate, this is probably Fassbinder's most welcoming of films.  It challenges every aspect of story and character making for a work of art that will leave you with a knot in your throat and an emptiness in the gut.   More intellectual than emotional, it's hard to really become attached to these cold and distant characters, but they will engage you with ideas, which was always Fassbinder's first goal.  Grade: B+
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)