Welcome back. Always lovely to start Friday with a note on a film, isn’t it? However your week has gone, the weekend is almost here (I know some of you work weekends, but you also party on weekends so… no complaining).
For our second episode of The Weekly Filmdate, we’re stepping back into the late 1970s of (at the time, West) Germany with a film by — in my humble opinion — one of the most underappreciated filmmakers to ever pick up a camera. This is considered by many to be the German master’s finest film (although I would make the case for the hilarious and underrated Beware of a Holy Whore and the sublime The Merchant of Four Seasons). Not only is it one of the director’s best films, it includes an acting tour-de-force by the ever-dazzling Hanna Schygulla. I’m not one for spoilers (who is?) but I will say this: pay attention from the very beginning (that opening scene — wow!)
Yes, The Weekly Filmdate #2 brings you: The Marriage of Maria Braun by Rainer Werner Fassbinder…
Here’s the gist (description by MUBI):
The Marriage of Maria Braun is the “German Hollywood film” Fassbinder had long dreamed of making. A heartbreaking study of a woman picking herself up from the ruins of her own life, as well as a pointed metaphorical attack on a society determined to forget its past.
Eager to check it out? You can watch it here or on MUBI when it returns there, which I’m sure it will soon. There’s also a fantastic multi-volume Fassbinder Blu-Ray collection by Arrow that’s worth picking up for you hardcore Fassbinder fans.
Have you watched The Marriage of Maria Braun? Tell us all what you think of it in the comments below.
S.J.
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S.J. COULES 