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 34th 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.
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