MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder died in 1982 at the age of 37, thanks to his appetite for drugs and his obsession with work, and while the filmmaker was at the height of his fame at the time of his passing, the sheer bulk of his cinematic legacy -- over 40 films completed between 1969 and 1982, two of which were actually television miniseries -- made it difficult to evaluate it all and place his work into proper context. That's still the case to some degree, but Criterion's recent release of their box set The BRD Trilogy -- consisting of his late-period masterworks The Marriage of Maria Braun, Veronika Voss, and Lola -- is not just a superb presentation of some of Fassbinder's most memorable work, but a fascinating and enlightening examination of the man's life, art, and working methods. The "BRD Trilogy" (which stands for "Bundesrepublik Deutschland," or "The Federal Republic of Germany") consists of three stories about women forced to make their way through the ethical landscape of the post-World War II "Economic Miracle," in which survival walks hand in hand with various sorts of moral compromise, and both technically and aesthetically, Criterion's team have gotten the details just right.

All three films have been given letterboxed transfers in their original aspect ratios -- The Marriage of Maria Braun and Lola at 1.66:1, Veronika Voss at 1.78:1 -- and all have been enhanced for anamorphic playback on 16 x 9 monitors. The films all look simply superb in these transfers, which is all the more impressive given how different their visual styles happen to be -- Maria Braun's muted and realistic color scheme, the high-contrast monochrome of Veronika Voss, and the bright candy-hued images of Lola. The audio for all three films has been mastered in Dolby Digital Mono from original magnetic elements, and if the improvement is less striking than the visuals, the cleaner audio does make a real difference, especially in Fassbinder's use of vintage radio broadcasts in all three films (which receive adequate subtitling there, which wasn't the case in previous issues).

The set's collection of supplemental material is both informative and suitably exhausting. All three films have been given distinct audio commentaries: Maria Braun's is a patchwork of observations by friend and filmmaker Wim Wenders, reminiscences from cameraman Michael Ballhaus, and extracts from writings by and about Fassbinder, while Veronika Voss features a detailed running analysis from critic Tony Rayns and Lola is paired with a biographical commentary from Christian Braad Thomsen. Each disc includes bonus interviews and documentaries. Maria Braun features an interview with leading lady (and frequent collaborator) Hanna Schygulla, as well as author Eric Rentschler. Veronika Voss includes a conversation between actress Rosel Zech (who played Veronika) and Fassbinder's frequent editor Juliane Lorenz, as well as an hour-long documentary on Sybille Schmitz, the UFA star who inspired the character of Voss. And Lola is accompanied by an interview with Barbara Sukowa, who played the title role, and Peter Marthesheimer, who co-wrote the screenplays for the BRD films. And as if all this wasn't enough, Criterion has added a fourth disc to the package, which includes a conversation between editor and Fassbinder Foundation director Lorenz and Laurence Kardish of the Museum of Modern Art's Film and Media Department; an interview with cinematographer Xaver Schwarzenberger, who worked on many of Fassbinder's later projects; a feature-length documentary on Fassbinder, Ich Will Nicht Nur, Dass Ihr Mich Liebt (aka I Don't Just Want You to Love Me), and an hour-long chat with Fassbinder himself (chain-smoking and looking more than a bit worse for wear), filmed for German television in 1978. Add a beautifully designed 52-page booklet with original and reprinted essays on Fassbinder's life, work, and the BRD films, and the final result is an exhaustively thorough package that's remarkably executed even by Criterion's high standards. Given the size of his oeuvre, a definitive Fassbinder collection on DVD is either impractical or impossible, but The BRD Trilogy is as intelligent and well-executed a study of one of the crucial periods of his career as anyone could hope for, and essential viewing for anyone with an interest in his work. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 4
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (Alternate Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • New digital transfers with restored image and sound, enhanced for widescreen televisions
  • Audio commentary tracks by filmmaker Wim Wenders and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (The Marriage of Maria Braun) film critic and author Tony Rayns (Veronika Voss), and film scholar Christian Braad Thomsen (Lola)
  • Exclusive interviews with Fassbinder's leading women Hanna Schygulla (Maria Braun), Rosel Zech (Veronika Voss), and Barbara Sukowa (Lola)
  • New interviews with cinematographer Xaver Schwarzenberger, screenwriter Peter Marthesheimer, and Fassbinder scholar Eric Rentschler
  • "Life Stories: A Conversation With R.W. Fassbinder," a rare 49-minute interview made for German television
  • I Don't Just Want You to Love Me: Feature-length documentary of Fassbinder's life and career
  • "Dance With Death (Tanz mit dem Tod)," a one-hour portrait of UFA Studios star Sybille Schmitz, Fassbinder's inspiration for the character Veronika Voss
  • Theatrical trailers for The Marriage of Maria Braun, Veronika Voss, and Lola
  • Senior Curator of MoMA's Film and Media Department Laurence Kardish in conversation with Fassbinder film editor Juliane Lorenz
  • 52-page book featuring a new essay by film critic Kent Jones and production histories of the trilogy by author Michael Toteberg (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
  • New and improved English subtitle translations
  • Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer editions

AWARDS

• Berlin International Film Festival

•     Won Golden Bear - 1982
•     Won Silver Bear - 1979
•     Won Silver Bear for Best Actress - 1979 (Hanna Schygulla)

• German Federal Ministry of the Interior

•     Won Bundesfilmpreis - Best Supporting Actress - 1979 (Gisela Uhlen)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Foreign Film - 1979

• National Board of Review

•     Nominated Best Foreign Film - 1979

• Telluride Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 1985
•     Film Presented - 1982
•     Film Presented - 1979

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Barbara Sukowa - Lola
       Armin Mueller - Stahl - Von Bohm
       Annemarie Duringer - Dr. Katz
       Doris Schade - Josefa
       Cornelia Froboess - Henriette
       Erik Schumann - Dr. Edel
       Armin Mueller - Stahl - Max Rehbein
       George Byrd - Bill
       Brigitte Horney - Frau Treibel
       Elisabeth Volkmann - Grete
       Elisabeth Volkmann - Gigi
       Rosel Zech - Mrs. Schuckert
       Isolde Barth - Bordello girl
       Christine Kaufmann - Bordello girl
       I Sa Lo - Bordello girl
       Peter Zadek - Film Director
       Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Police Superintendent
       Bruce Low - American GI

• Director:

  Rainer Werner Fassbinder

• Producer:

  Michael Fengler, Thomas Schühly, Horst Wendlandt

• Screenwriter:

  Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Peter Märthesheimer, Pea Fröhlich

• Cinematographer:

  Michael Ballhaus, Xaver Schwarzenberger

• Composer (Music Score):

  Peer Raben, Freddy Quinn

• Editor:

  Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Juliane Lorenz, Franz Walsch

• Production Designer:

  Norbert Scherer, Rolf Zehetbauer

• Executive Producer:

  Rainer Werner Fassbinder

• Set Designer:

  Rolf Zehetbauer

• Costume Designer:

  George Kuhn, Barbara Baum, Egon Strasser

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Milan Bor

REVIEW:

• The first of a trilogy about women in post-World War II Germany, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978) turns the melodramatic story of the titular heroine's climb up the economic ladder into a historical allegory about both the post-war German "economic miracle" and 1970s West Germany. Evoking Joan Crawford's forceful lead in Mildred Pierce (1945) and the visually stylized 1950s melodramas of Douglas Sirk, Fassbinder combines theatrically composed lighting and camera moves with accurate recreations of war and post-war settings, decor, and dress to dramatize Maria Braun's rise at the expense of her integrity. Driven by the memory of her brief marriage to create her own "economic miracle" by any means, Maria's final betrayal by her husband is linked through photos and radio broadcasts with the moral betrayal of Germany by its postwar leaders. The most prominent (and prolific) director of the 1960s-'70s New German Cinema, Fassbinder finally had his first international box-office success with Maria Braun, confirming his place as one of the most striking filmmakers of the 1970s. Hanna Schygulla won Best Actress prizes from the Berlin Film Festival and the New York Film Critics' Circle for her performance as Maria. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi