Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven (1975)

Frau Kusters is preparing dinner late one seemingly ordinary afternoon in her seemingly ordinary kitchen in Frankfurt, Germany. Mrs. Kusters wants to add canned sausages to the stew, her ... See full summary »

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Kurt Raab

Stars:

Brigitte Mira, Ingrid Caven, Margit Carstensen

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brigitte Mira	...	Emma Küsters
Ingrid Caven	...	Corinna
Margit Carstensen	...	Marianne Thälmann
Karlheinz Böhm	...	Karl 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

Storyline

Frau Kusters is preparing dinner late one seemingly ordinary afternoon in her seemingly ordinary kitchen in Frankfurt, Germany. Mrs. Kusters wants to add canned sausages to the stew, her annoying daughter-in-law thinks otherwise. The point, we soon find out, is moot: Mr. Kusters has murdered the personnel director at the soap factory where he works before committing suicide.

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Plot Keywords:

loss of husband | suicide | frankfurt germany | murder suicide | german communist | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

23 March 1976 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven

Filming Locations:

Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

DEM 750,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmverlag der Autoren, Tango Film

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

[All trivia items for this title are spoilers.]

User Reviews

Mother Küsters Hasn't a Prayer

At first I was anticipating an attack on yellow journalism akin to the same year's 'Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum'; but to me this film - with its title evoking Pudovkin's 'Mother', Piel Jutzi's 'Mutter Krausens Fahrt ins Glück' and of course Brecht's Mother Courage - became more and more abstract and stylised as it progressed.

The film's pretty poster paint colours and Brigitte Mira's depiction of stoicism in the face of adversity considerably soften the impact of what could have been an extremely harsh neorealist tract on the systematic abuse suffered by the downtrodden proletariat; and there are quite a few laughs. Very little actually seems to faze the put-upon Emma Küsters, who after receiving what would have been the shattering news that the circumstances of her late husband's death means the loss of her pension simply continues with equanimity her frugal existence assembling plugs in her dining room. Her treatment by a cynical journalist, well-meaning but ineffectual communists and - finally - violent nihilists suggests Fassbinder's mounting cynicism about the motives and effectiveness of the King Logs and King Storks around him that he had so far encountered offering solutions to society's ills, the ironic title effectively declaring the chances of the Mother Küsters of this world ever receiving a break in this world being zero.