The BRD Trilogy

Veronika Voss

THE BRD TRILOGY: THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN, 

VERONIKA VOSS, LOLA (Fassbinder, 1979-1982)

Criterion Collection, Blu-ray, Release Date July 9, 2019

Review by Christopher S. Long

I'm often torn as to which Fassbinder period is my favorite. Sometimes I lean toward the less-than-no-frills frenzy of the “Love Is Colder Than Death” (1969) era. Just stand against that white wall and knock out your lines so we can wrap this thing – for God's sake, we've already been shooting for nearly a week! And we've got five more films to finish by the end of the year.

Other times, I prefer the expansive ambition of “Berlin Alexanderplatz” (1980), the mini-series that takes longer to watch than it takes to read the book it's based on. But who can resist the easy formal elegance of the BRD trilogy, among Fassbinder's last films and the subject of this review?

Then I remember that if the “mature” Fassbinder of the BRD trilogy wasn't cranking out six features a year anymore, he still preferred shooting single takes and barreling through production at a frenetic pace that would leave most young filmmakers gasping for air. Then again, he was still a young filmmaker, just 33 when he began shooting “The Marriage of Maria Braun” (1979), approximately his 34^th feature (it's tough to keep an exact count). All Fassbinder is early Fassbinder, and maybe his forty-plus films should really all be considered of a single period. So I guess my favorite Fassbinder is all of it.

With the BRD Trilogy (BRD = Bundesrepublik Deutschland, i.e. West Germany), Rainer Werner Fassbinder turned his unflinching gaze to his home country's post-war years. He was particularly keen to examine the so-called “economic miracle” (mostly in the 1950s) that produced a startlingly swift recovery from the ruins, and the willful denial required to manage such a rapid transition. Move forward, never think back. Fassbinder chose to filter this history through the experiences of three title women: one who adapts confidently to post-war society, one who negotiates the new landscape with more mixed results, and one who remains mired in a past that everyone else is trying to forget.

“The Marriage of Maria Braun” opens with a depiction of the title event, first with audio of vows being exchanged under a poster of Hitler, then with bombs dropping around the wedding party. As buildings crumble, the still blissful bride makes sure that the Justice of the Peace signs the marriage certificate even as he lies cowering in the rubble. Maria (Hanna Schygulla) intends to get what she wants no matter the obstacles in her path.

When her husband Hermann (Klaus Lowitsch) deploys the next day and is soon lost in battle, Maria adapts to life as a war widow (though she steadfastly believes Hermann, her one true love, will return) in a methodical fashion. Climbing the business ladder by any means necessary, she consolidates power on her own terms, giving ground to nobody except the absent and therefore idealized Hermann. As for the rest of the characters, they can either get out of her path or just follow obediently in her wake.

Schygulla's magisterial performance is so confident and so layered, it's impossible to reduce Maria to any simple category, to price her as a consumer commodity, the defining aspect of the economic miracle she exploits so brilliantly. She's ruthless, but no Machiavellian sadist; loyal to her husband of “half a a day and a whole night” but no shrinking faithful maiden (nowhere close). She simply knows the score. “It's not a good time for feelings” is her sober assessment of post-WW2 Germany, a motto that could also be the organizing principle of much of Fassbinder's work.

Where Maria Braun resists being bartered, “Lola” (1981) does her best to set her own price. The titular cabaret singer/prostitute (Barbara Sukowa) faces a dreary set of choices as Fassbinder populates the film with a bevy of faux-macho posers puffing fat cigars in boardrooms, preening men circling each other in snarling, impotent displays of authority. Lola is ostensibly “owned” by one of them (Mario Adorf), a corrupt property developer and ersatz alpha dog among the equally corrupt power brokers in the city.

When the urbane, morally upright Von Bohm (Armin Mueller-Stahl) is appointed as the new building commissioner, he foils everyone's plans, but Von Bohm's growing obsession with Lola entraps him as well. Like any (mostly) innocent character in a Fassbinder film, Von Bohm faces two choices: destruction or capitulation. Von Bohm's only chance at happiness requires an act of denial in tune with the nation-wide act of forgetting necessary for an economic miracle. As for Lola, maybe she really can have everything, at least at the right price.

Loosely inspired by the tragic story of German actress Sybille Schmitz, “Veronika Voss” (1982) tells the tale of a faded actress from the war years who has now fallen on hard times. Voss (Rosel Zech) still clings to her identity as a top-line star, but both work and fame have become increasingly elusive. She now spends most of her time under the “care” of a dubious doctor who may actually be keeping her hostage.

Robert (Hilmar Thate) makes the mistake of acting kindly to Voss (who he's never heard of) one night, thus being dragged into her shady world, marking him as another ill-starred noir dupe, though with Voss as a decidedly unusual femme fatale. The film is shot in sultry black-and-white with an intentional preponderance of massive camera flares (more like mini-supernovas ), especially in scenes related to Voss's diminishing movie career. The nefarious doctor's office may be the whitest space ever created on film – overblown white on overblown white. Considering Voss's vulnerability and the seeming decency of both Robert and his faithful girlfriend (Cornelia Froboess), you might start to wonder if the cynical social realist director has gotten sentimental in his old age (he was about 35 when he shot the film). But then Fassbinder delivers an ending as pitiless as the one he reserved for himself in “Fox And His Friends” (1975).

It's understandable why many viewers deem Fassbinder to be one of the cruelest filmmakers of his or any generation. But if he was just wallowing in miserabilism for cheap sadistic thrills, his films wouldn't provoke such powerful reactions from his devoted fans. Fassbinder observes with a remorseless eye, seeking out the flaws and finding all the dirt swept under the rug, but also with so much tenderness, the emotions spill out beyond the edges of the frame. He tried so desperately to find a happy ending, but he just saw too clearly.

The BRD Trilogy is among Fassbinder's crowning achievements, though I have been grossly negligent in not previously mentioning that all three films were scripted by Peter Marthesheimer and Pea Frohlich. Both “Marian Braun” and “Veronika Voss” are genuine masterpieces, and if “Lola” is the weakest link, it's only due to a difficult comparison.

Video:

The BRD Trilogy was originally released by Criterion on DVD in 2003. Those transfers looked quite strong at the time, but we've become spoiled in the more than fifteen years since then. These 1080-p high-def upgrades represent substantial improvements over the previous release.

Each of the three films appears to have been digitally restored by different companies. “Maria Braun” and “Lola” are both presented in their original 1.66:1 aspect ratios, “Veronika Voss” in its original 1.78:1 ratio.

“Veronika Voss” particularly benefits. With the massive camera flares and several spaces being so intensely white, this is an image that needs the high-def treatment not to wind up looking washed out and indistinct. Here, it looks fantastic. The high-def transfers for the other two films look strong throughout as well.

Audio:

All three films are presented with modest, clean LPCM mono tracks. They sound crisp and get the job done with no noticeable distortions or weak spots. Optional English subtitles support the German audio.

Extras:

The BDR Trilogy is a boxed set with three Blu-ray discs on three separate keepcases. Along with the squarebound insert booklet, the three cases are tucked into a sturdy cardboard container that holds the entire collection. Each disc includes one of the three features and an array of extras.

The old 2003 release of this Criterion set contained four DVDs, the fourth devoted just to the supplements. All of the extras on this Blu-ray re-release are now spread out among the three filmdiscs, and have all been imported from the prior DVD release. All of the previous extras are included here, and there are no new extras for this set.

Each disc includes a Theatrical Trailer for each of the films.

On the “Maria Braun” disc, we get the old commentary by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and director Wim Wenders.

This disc also includes a 2003 interview with actress Hanna Schygulla (32 min.) in which she discusses first meeting a young Fassbinder. There's also a 2003 interview with critic Eric Rentschler (20 min.) who provides some context for the release of the BDR trilogy and its emphasis on the experience of women during the economic miracle.

“Life Stories: A Conversation with Rainer Werner Fassbinder” (1978, 48 min.) is a lengthy interview conducted by film scholar Peter W. Jansen at Fassbinder's Paris home. Fassbinder is surprisingly frank in answering some very personal questions. It's compelling material, but be aware that lengthy excerpts from this are included in “I Don't Just Want You To Love Me”, a feature on the next disc.

The “Veronika Voss” disc includes the 2003 commentary by critic Tony Rayns, which is as jam-packed with information and analysis as you'd expect from the always astute Mr. Rayns.

We also get a 2003 conversation (29 min.) between actress Rosel Zech and editor Juliane Lorenz. Fassbinder had long admired Zech's stage work, and wanted to work with her because he considered her the best Hedda Gabler the German theater had produced in his lifetime.

“Dance with Death” (2000, 55 min.) is a tabloid-y feature about the suicide of German actress Sybille Schmitz, the loose inspiration for the film.

By far the best feature on this loaded set is the exceptional documentary “I Don't Just Want You To Love Me” (1992, 96 min.) Directed by Hans Gunther Pflaum, this feature-length documentary mixes together interviews with many of Fassbinder's film “family” including Hanna Schygulla, Harry Baer, Ingrid Caven, Lilo Pompeit (Fassbinder's mother), composer Peer Raben, and many others. The interviews offer many perspectives on Fassbinder's life and career, and remarkable footage of a very young Fassbinder in his early Antiteater (his Anti-Theater acting group) days provides an added bonus. This is the rare supplemental feature substantial enough to merit its own separate release on disc.

The “Lola” disc has a 2003 commentary by film scholar Christian Braad Thomsen.

It also offers four of the old 2003 interviews. Actress Barbara Sukowa (20 min.) talks about meeting Fassbinder in theater, and the years they planned to work together before finally getting the opportunity on “Berlin Alexanderplatz.” Peter Marthesheimer (33 min.) co-wrote the screenplays (along with Pea Frohlich) for all three BDR films, and was also a television producer who developed several other Fassbinder projects.

We also get an interview with cinematographer Xavier Schwarzenberger (27 min.) who tells a great story about his first meeting with Fassbinder, which started out looking like a disaster and turned into a happy meeting of the minds. The final interview sees editor Juliane Lorenz back for a conversation with author and curator Laurence Kardish. Lorenz speaks at length about the unique editing method she employed on Fassbinder's work, almost instantly churning out near final cuts from the previous day's footage, trying to keep pace with the fast-working director. If you only check out one of the interviews on this disc, this is your best bet.

The square-bound 52-page insert booklet kicks off with an essay by critic Kent Jones which covers the entire trilogy, then includes essays/production histories on each of the three films by author Michael Toteberg. The booklet is almost identical to the one included with the 2003 release except, oddly, it doesn't include listings of cast and crew at the end.

Final Thoughts:

Criterion's Blu-ray release of “The BRD Trilogy” faithfully reproduces the 2003 DVD release – all the same extras, no new ones. The high-def transfers represent marked upgrades, and surely the best versions home viewers have ever gotten to see of these remarkable films.

Fassbinder died at the age of 37 in 1982, the same year “Veronika Voss” was released, with over forty films on his resume. You can appreciate the trilogy for its greatness, or take it as a bitter reminder of the many, many Fassbinder films we never got to see. I choose both options.