Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven (1975) Mutter Küsters' Fahrt zum Himmel (original title)

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Kurt Raab
(more)

Release Date:

19 January 1977 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Frau Kusters is preparing dinner late one seemingly ordinary afternoon in her seemingly ordinary kitchen in Frankfurt...

Cast

Brigitte Mira	...	Emma Küsters
Ingrid Caven	...	Corinna
Margit Carstensen	...	Frau Thälmann
Karlheinz Böhm	...	Thälmann
Irm Hermann	...	Helene
Gottfried John	...	Niemeyer
Peter Kern	...	Nachtclubbesitzer
Kurt Raab	...	Barbesitzer Gustav
Gustav Holzapfel	...	Herr Holzapfel
Lilo Pempeit	...	Sekretärin
Peter Chatel	...	Photograph
Peter Bollag	...	Photograph
Vitus Zeplichal	...	Reporter
Volker Spengler	...	Photograph
Y Sa Lo	...	Terroristin
Armin Meier	...	Ernst
Matthias Fuchs	...	Knab
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rainer Werner Fassbinder	...	Pfarrer (voice) (uncredited)
Adrian Hoven	...	Redacteur - in - chief Linke (uncredited)
Hannes Kaetner	...	Security Man (uncredited)
Eva Mattes	...	Secretary (uncredited)

Directed by
Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Kurt Raab
Heinrich Zille		story "Mutter Krausens Fahrt Ins Glueck"

Original Music by
Peer Raben

Cinematography by
Michael Ballhaus

Film Editing by
Thea Eymèsz

Production Design by
Kurt Raab

Art Direction by
Ruediger Schmid

Makeup Department
Jo Braun	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Christian Hohoff	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Renate Leiffer	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Wolfgang Hoffmann	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Ekkehard Heinrich	....	lighting technician
Thomas Schwan	....	assistant camera

Production Companies

• Filmverlag der Autoren
• Tango Film

Distributors

• Capital Films (1977) (France) (theatrical)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• New Yorker Films (1977) (USA) (subtitled)

Also Known As:

"Mutter Küsters' Fahrt zum Himmel" - West Germany (original title)
"Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven" - International (English title) (imdb display title), UK (imdb display title)

Runtime:

Germany:120 min | USA:108 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany

Company:

Filmverlag der Autoren

Finally! A Fassbinder movie that I like!

Mother Kunters is just so drolly funny. The story is about a woman coping with her husband's death. Her husband died after he fell into some machinery at work. Oh, and there's something else. Her husband killed 2 people on the job before doing himself in. Actually, if you listen closely during the first 15 minutes of the movie, the "There's something else" line is repeated 3 times, which is very oddly funny. Mrs. Kunsters is of course, devastated by the news, and when her children get together, they all don't really get along, and deal with the death in different ways, her daughter is especially malicious, using the death to promote her laughable music career. Mrs Kusters, not finding solace anywhere, finally finds a couple willing to listen and feel compassion. Problem is of course, they're COMMUNISTS! Ha ha. Pretty soon they're convincing poor Mrs Kusters that her husband's death is directly related to The Plight of The Common Worker! I mean, that's priceless. Pretty soon, she's getting caught up with the hardline commies and soon violently protesting against newspapers that published negative stories about her husband. I mean, clearly we're dealing with manipulation, (both personal and political) and Fassbinder does it brilliantly here. As you could tell by the title of my review, I'm not the biggest Fassbinder fan, but I personally loved this one. Although the ending (the American one even more so) leaves a little bit to be desired, I, all in all, enjoyed this tremendously.