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IMDbPro

The Marriage of Maria Braun

Original title: Die Ehe der Maria Braun
  • 1979
  • R
  • 2h
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
14K
YOUR RATING
Hanna Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
Maria marries Hermann Braun in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. Alone, Maria puts to use her beauty and ambition in order to find prosperity during Germany's "economic miracle" of the 1950s.
Play trailer3:30
2 Videos
99+ Photos
Drama

Maria marries Hermann Braun in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. Alone, Maria puts to use her beauty and ambition in order to find prosperity during Germa... Read allMaria marries Hermann Braun in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. Alone, Maria puts to use her beauty and ambition in order to find prosperity during Germany's "economic miracle" of the 1950s.Maria marries Hermann Braun in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. Alone, Maria puts to use her beauty and ambition in order to find prosperity during Germany's "economic miracle" of the 1950s.

  • Director
    • Rainer Werner Fassbinder
  • Writers
    • Pea Fröhlich
    • Peter Märthesheimer
    • Rainer Werner Fassbinder
  • Stars
    • Hanna Schygulla
    • Klaus Löwitsch
    • Ivan Desny
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    14K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Rainer Werner Fassbinder
    • Writers
      • Pea Fröhlich
      • Peter Märthesheimer
      • Rainer Werner Fassbinder
    • Stars
      • Hanna Schygulla
      • Klaus Löwitsch
      • Ivan Desny
    • 53User reviews
    • 59Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 13 wins & 7 nominations

    Videos2

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 3:30
    Watch Official Trailer
    Sneak Previews Season 2 Episode 12
    Video 27:32
    Watch Sneak Previews Season 2 Episode 12

    Photos114

    Hanna Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
    Hanna Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
    Hanna Schygulla and George Eagles in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
    Hanna Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
    Hanna Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
    Hanna Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
    Hanna Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
    Hanna Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
    Hanna Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
    Hanna Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
    Hark Bohm in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
    Hanna Schygulla in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Hanna Schygulla
    Hanna Schygulla
    • Maria Braun
    Klaus Löwitsch
    Klaus Löwitsch
    • Hermann Braun
    Ivan Desny
    Ivan Desny
    • Karl Oswald
    Gisela Uhlen
    Gisela Uhlen
    • Mother
    Elisabeth Trissenaar
    Elisabeth Trissenaar
    • Betti Klenze
    Gottfried John
    Gottfried John
    • Willi Klenze
    Hark Bohm
    Hark Bohm
    • Senkenberg
    George Eagles
    • Bill
    • (as George Byrd)
    Claus Holm
    Claus Holm
    • Doctor
    Günter Lamprecht
    • Hans Wetzel
    • (as Günther Lamprecht)
    Anton Schiersner
    • Grandpa Berger
    Lilo Pempeit
    • Frau Ehmke
    Sonja Neudorfer
    • Red Cross nurse
    Volker Spengler
    Volker Spengler
    • Train conductor
    Isolde Barth
    Isolde Barth
    • Vevi
    Bruce Low
    • American at conference
    Günther Kaufmann
    Günther Kaufmann
    • American on train
    Karl-Heinz von Hassel
    • Prosecuting counsel
    • Director
      • Rainer Werner Fassbinder
    • Writers
      • Pea Fröhlich
      • Peter Märthesheimer
      • Rainer Werner Fassbinder
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The abbreviation "LSR," seen painted on various walls throughout the film, stands for "Luftschutzraum," German for "air raid shelter".
    • Goofs
      At the end of the cut of the two kids blowing up the firecrackers, they start laughing but no sound is heard. The sound of laughter is heard on the next cut after they get yelled at by the man scavenging for wood.
    • Quotes

      Mother: It's wrong to give all your love to only one person, Grandpa. If you don't have potatoes, you eat turnips. When the turnips are gone, you eat gruel. But every girl loves her one and only. He goes to war; five months later he's dead, and you mourn the rest of your life. Does that make sense to you, Grandpa? It drowns you.

    • Crazy credits
      At the very end of the credits the following persons are 'credited' by their picture: Konrad Adenauer, Ludwig Erhard, Kurt Georg Kiesinger and Helmut Schmidt and a disconnected phone line can be heard.
    • Connections
      Featured in Sneak Previews: French Postcards/The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh/The Marriage of Maria Braun/The Rose/Best Boy (1979)
    • Soundtracks
      In The Mood
      Written by Wingy Manone, Andy Razaf and Joe Garland

    User reviews53

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    10/10
    torrid melodrama about a woman who can get what she wants, but needs are another matter
    Maria Braun got married right in the middle of combat all around her and her husband Hermann. An explosion ripped through the building, to begin with, and she and Hermann had to sign the papers on a pile of rubble on the street. Perhaps this may strike some as a heavy-handed metaphor for what's about to come: marriage on the rocks, so to speak. It's a betrothal where the husband goes off to war and is held in a Russian prison camp, unbenownst to the helpless but hopeful and proud Maria, who keeps standing by the depressing rubble of the train station as some come home, others don't, with a sign awaiting Hermann.

    Trouble arises, as happens in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's melodramas, and as its one of his best and most provocative, we see as Maria (uncommonly gorgeous Hanna Schygulla in this role) will do a two-face: she'll stand by her man, even if it means working at a bar for American GI's and, even still after she hears from a fellow soldier that Hermann has died will still stand by him as she sleeps with a black GI and comes close to bearing his child (that is, naturally, until he reappears and a murder occurs and he takes the rap so she can be safe), or working for a German businessman (effectively sympathetic Ivan Desny) and becoming his sometimes mistress and rising star in the company. Maria will do whatever it takes to be successful, but she'll always be married.

    It's hard to say there's anything about Maria that isn't fascinating. Money, sex, power, all of these become interchangeable for Maria. She's like the feminist that has her cake and eats it with a sultry smile: she gets to have a husband, more or less (actually a lot less until the last ten minutes of the film) while obtaining things- a man who dotes on her whenever he can, a new and expensive house with servants, a secretary, money- that others around her aren't getting due to already being with a man or too weak in a position to rise anywhere (such as the secretary, played interestingly enough by Fassbinder's own mother).

    Maria is sexy, confident, and all alone, with an idealized life going against a life that should be made in the shade. She says of the two men- the American soldier and poor old and sick Oswald- that she's fond of them, and at the same time will stick by those roses the confused and soul-searching husband Hermann sends from Canada, after being released from prison. She's casts a profile that a feminist would love to trounce, but understand where she's coming from and going all the way.

    Fassbinder employs this inherent contradiction, and moments with Maria appear to go against the conventions of a melodrama (for example, Hermann walking in on the jubilant and half-naked Maria and GI is just about a masterpiece of a scene, with Maria's reaction not of surprise or guilt but pure happiness to see that he's there let alone alive), while sticking to his guns as a director of such high-minded technique with a storyline that should be predictable. But it isn't really. It's like one big metaphor for a country that, after the war, couldn't really move on to normalcy. A few times Fassbinder puts sound of the radio on in the background, and we see Maria walking around her family house, hustle and bustle going on around her, and the radio speaks of a divided Germany, of things still very unsettled, of a disarray. Maybe the only way to cope is excess, or maybe that's just my interpretation of it.

    It's hard to tell, really, under Schygulla's stare face and eyes, anyway. It's such an incredible performance, really, one of those showstoppers that captures the glamor and allure of an old-time Hollywood female star while with the down-and-dirty ethic of a girl of the streets. Most telling are the opposing costumes one sees in one scene when she finally is with her husband, where she stars in one of those super-lustful black lingerie pieces and high heels, and then moves on to a dress without even thinking about it. That's almost the essence of what Maria is, and Schygulla wonderfully gets it down, a headstrong but somehow loving figure who is adored and perplexed by the men around her, sometimes in a single sentence. This is what Fassbinder captures in his wonderful first part of his "trilogy"; while I might overall prefer Veronika Voss as a masterpiece, Maria Braun is perhaps just as good as a character study, of what makes a woman tick and tock with (almost) nothing to lose.
    helpful•21
    3
    • Quinoa1984
    • Jun 21, 2009

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 23, 1979 (West Germany)
    • Country of origin
      • West Germany
    • Official sites
      • Criterion (United States)
      • Official site
    • Languages
      • German
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Die Ehe der Maria Braun
    • Filming locations
      • Berlin, Germany
    • Production companies
      • Albatros Filmproduktion
      • Fengler Films
      • Filmverlag der Autoren
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • DEM 1,975,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $8,144
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $11,623
      • Feb 16, 2003
    • Gross worldwide
      • $11,855
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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