Mrs Braun

The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)

This German film comes from director Rainer Fassbinder and stars Hanna Schygulla, it is the first part of a trilogy based on the experiences of women in post war Germany. A young woman deals with the problems of having to survive during the reconstruction of Germany and missing her husband.

The experiences of the central character serve as a metaphor for the experience of West Germany in terms of becoming a successful economy and having to deal with it's past crimes. What works particularly well is using the main character's husband and his time in jail to represent how West Germany dealt with it's Nazi past. Overall this is a really good film with some good performances from the cast.

4/5