The Marriage of Maria Braun

Writing and pre-production

The idea for The Marriage of Maria Braun can be traced to Fassbinder's collaboration with Alexander Kluge on the unrealized television project The Marriage of our Parents (Die Ehen unserer Eltern), which was developed after the critical success of the omnibus film Germany in Autumn. Fassbinder worked on a draft screenplay with Klaus-Dieter Lang and Kurt Raab and presented it in the summer of 1977 to his longtime collaborator Peter Märthesheimer, who at that time was working as a dramaturge at the Bavaria Film Studios. In August 1977, Märthesheimer and his partner Pea Fröhlich, a professor of psychology and pedagogics, were commissioned to write a screenplay based on the draft.^[6] Although it was Märthesheimer's and Fröhlich's first screenplay, their knowledge of Fassbinder's works allowed them to match his characteristic style and structure.^[7] Fassbinder changed only a few details in their screenplay, including some dialogue and the ending. Instead of dying by suicide in a car accident, Maria dies in a gas explosion, leaving it unclear whether it was intentional.^[8]

The film's producer was Fassbinder's longtime collaborator Michael Fengler and his production company Albatros Filmproduktion.^[6] Fengler planned to start shooting the film in the first half of 1978, as Fassbinder's next project Berlin Alexanderplatz was scheduled for June.^[9] Fassbinder was embroiled in a controversy over his stage play Der Müll, die Stadt und der Tod and was not ready to start shooting the film, so he withdrew to Paris, where he worked on the screenplay for Berlin Alexanderplatz.^[10] Fengler was dreaming of an international star cast for the film. On his suggestion, Fassbinder and Fengler visited Romy Schneider and asked her to play Maria. Due to Schneider's alcohol problems, fickleness, and demands, the role was then given to Hanna Schygulla, her first collaboration with Fassbinder in several years.^[11] Yves Montand also showed interest in the film, but wanted to play Hermann and not, as Fassbinder and Fengler suggested, Oswald. As the role of Hermann was already promised to Klaus Löwitsch, Montand was ultimately not offered a role.^[9]

Production

From the start, the financing of The Marriage of Maria Braun was precarious. Albatros Filmproduktion contributed only 42,500 DM, the public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk 566,000, the German Federal Film Board 400,000, and the distributor 150,000. This forced Fengler to find another financing partner. He offered Hanns Eckelkamp's Trio-Film a share in the film in December 1977.^[12] Fengler had promised Fassbinder's Tango-Film 50% of the film profits, but by offering Trio-Film a share in the film, he effectively oversold the rights; only 15% remained with Fassbinder. Fassbinder subsequently called Fengler a gangster and litigation against Fengler continued even after Fassbinder's death.^[13]

Shooting began in January 1978 in Coburg. Bad-tempered and quarrelsome, Fassbinder shot the film during the day and worked on the Berlin Alexanderplatz script at night.^[14] To sustain this schedule he consumed large quantities of cocaine, supplied by the production manager Harry Baer and the actor Peter Berling. According to Berling this was the main reason the film went over budget, as the cash for the cocaine was coming from Fengler.^[13]

In February the budget was reaching 1.7 million DM, and the two most expensive scenes, the explosions at the beginning and at end of the film, had not yet been shot. By this time Fassbinder had learned about Fengler's deal with Eckelkamp and the overselling of the film rights. He felt deceived and broke with Fengler. He demanded the status of co-producer, obtained an injunction against Fengler and Eckelkamp, fired most of the film crew, ended the shooting in Coburg at the end of February, and moved to Berlin, where he shot the last scenes.^[12] The biographer Thomas Elsaesser called the production of the film "one of Fassbinder's least happy experiences" and Berlin "one of the decisive self-destructive episodes in Rainer's life".^[11]

Release

While also preparing for the production of Berlin Alexanderplatz, Fassbinder worked with film editor Juliane Lorenz on the editing and post-production of The Marriage of Maria Braun. The failure of Despair at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival spurred him to prepare an answer print overnight and to present the film on 22 May to German film producers in a private screening. The screening, attended by Horst Wendlandt, Sam Waynberg, Karl Spiehs, Günter Rohrbach, and Filmverlag der Autoren's majority shareholder Rudolf Augstein, among others, was a success.^[15] Eckelkamp invested a further 473,000 DM to pay the film production's debts and became the sole owner of the rights to the film.^[16] He negotiated a distribution deal with United Artists, outmaneuvering the Filmverlag der Autoren, which usually distributed Fassbinder's films.^[17]

Hoping that The Marriage of Maria Braun might be successful at the 1979 Berlin International Film Festival, Eckelkamp started a marketing campaign and decided to release the film theatrically in March. Commissioned by Eckelkamp, the author Gerhard Zwerenz novelized the film. It was published in several weekly installments in the magazine Der Stern over three months beginning in March, increasing public interest in the film.^[18] The film's official premiere was on 20 February at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival. The West German theatrical release was on 23 March. At the Berlin festival, Hanna Schygulla won the Silver Bear for Best Actress, which did not satisfy Fassbinder, who expected to win the Golden Bear.^[19]

Contemporary reception

German film critics responded very favorably to the film, praising its combination of artistic value with mass appeal. In the weekly newspaper Die Zeit Hans-Christoph Blumenberg called it "the most accessible (and thus most commercial) and mature work of the director".^[20] Karena Niehoff wrote in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that The Marriage of Maria Braun "is a charming and even amusing film, at the same time extraordinarily artful, artificial and full of twists and turns".^[21]

Many critics praised Schygulla. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung Gottfried Knapp wrote that Fassbinder gave her a magnificent opportunity to display her talent, and that her character, emotions, charm, and energy had an enormous effect.^[22] Foreign critics also praised Schygulla. In The New Yorker, David Denby called her "an improbable cross between Dietrich and Harlow".^[23] She was the runner-up for the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress that year, losing to Sally Field.

François Truffaut wrote in 1980 in Cahiers du cinéma that with this film Fassbinder "has broken out of the ivory tower of the cinephiles", that the film is "an original work of epic and poetic qualities" influenced by Godard's Contempt, Brecht, Wedekind, and Douglas Sirk, and that its idea of a man who looks on men and women with equal fondness is particularly touching.^[21] The French critic Jean de Baroncelli discussed the film's allegorical qualities in Le Monde, writing that it presents Maria with "shining simplicity" as an allegory of Germany, "a character who wears flashy and expensive clothes but has lost her soul".^[22]

Roger Ebert added the film to his Great Movies collection.^[24]

The New York Times placed the film on its Best 1000 Movies Ever list.^[25]

Commercial success and aftermath

The Marriage of Maria Braun was also a commercial success. From its release until October 1979 more than 900,000 tickets were sold in West Germany, and it ran for up to 20 weeks in some theaters.^[2][26] In West Germany alone the film grossed more than $3 million.^[2][11] In the same year of its German release the distribution deals for 25 countries were negotiated. In August 1981 the film was Fassbinder's first to run in East German theaters.^[26] In the United States, the film was the highest-grossing German film ever and grossed $2.6 million.^[3]

The film was not the official German submission to the 51st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. Instead Hans W. Geißendörfer's The Glass Cell was chosen. Almost a year later the film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 37th Golden Globe Awards, but this was overshadowed by the success of Volker Schlöndorff's The Tin Drum at the 52nd Academy Awards.^[27] The commercial success of The Marriage of Maria Braun strengthened Fassbinder's negotiation position in his subsequent projects. He received a financing agreement for one of his favorite projects, based on Pitigrilli's novel Cocaine, and was able to increase the budget for Berlin Alexanderplatz. Several German commercial film producers expressed interest in making films with him. Luggi Waldleitner produced Fassbinder's Lili Marleen with Schygulla in the main role. Horst Wendlandt produced the two other films in the BRD Trilogy, Lola and Veronika Voss. Fassbinder's success also allowed him to realize his last project, Querelle, which was co-financed by Gaumont.^[28]

As Fengler had oversold the rights to the film, Fassbinder's profit share was an open question. Eckelkamp saw himself as the sole owner of all rights, but sent Fassbinder 70,000 DM in 1982 to appease him. After Fassbinder's death, his mother and heiress Liselotte Eder revived his claims, but Eckelkamp was unsympathetic. In the course of legal proceedings Eckelkamp was ordered in 1986 to disclose the film's finances to the newly founded Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation. Eckelkamp's Trio Film disclosed a budget of almost 2 million DM, additional marketing costs of 1 million and a net profit of 1 million. When Trio-Film was ordered to pay Fassbinder's heirs 290,000 DM, Eckelkamp refused. At the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation's request, Trio Film had to declare bankruptcy in 1988. In the course of the continuing legal proceedings, the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf certified in 1990 that Fassbinder was not a co-producer of the film. The Federal Court of Justice upheld that ruling, but also ruled that Fassbinder's heirs were entitled to a share of the film's profits.^[29] Today the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation owns all rights to the film.^[30]