Martha (1974)

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Movie
Original title Martha
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1974
length 116 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder
script Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cornell Woolrich
production Peter Märthesheimer
music Max Bruch
Orlando di Lasso
Gaetano Donizetti
camera Michael Ballhaus
cut Liesgret Schmitt-Klink
occupation

Martha is a German fiction film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder from 1974. The main part of the film describes the development of the sadomasochistic relationship between Martha and Helmut Salomon.

action

The librarian Martha Heyer, in her early 30s and still untouched, goes on a vacation trip to Rome with her cool, distant father . Her father suffers a fatal heart attack on the Spanish Steps . Shortly thereafter, there is a fleeting encounter with consequences when Martha's gaze crosses with that of an unknown, handsome man in the courtyard of the German embassy. After returning, she met the businessman Helmut Salomon again at a wedding party, and shortly afterwards they were married. Martha is overwhelmed by Solomon's dominance and charisma. On their honeymoon together, Helmut systematically begins to torture Martha and to “educate” her according to his ideas.

Against Martha's will, Salomon arranges for her mother, who is addicted to alcohol and tablets, to be admitted. The couple moves into a rented villa; Salomon alone decided on the future place of residence. Since he is constantly on the move for work and has terminated her employment contract without Martha's consent, he manages to isolate Martha more and more. He demands absolute exclusivity and devotion from Martha. This does not rebel against his demands out of love. The relationship between the two is increasingly shaped by Solomon's dominance and develops openly sadomasochistic traits.

In the absence of her husband, Martha meets Mr. Kaiser, a former colleague. When this later becomes clear to Salomon, he has the phone removed from the house and no longer allows Martha to go out. A cat that was keeping Martha company in her golden cage dies. When Martha meets again with Herr Kaiser and her husband suddenly shows up, she believes that he is pursuing and trying to kill her. While driving with Kaiser, she causes an accident in which Kaiser dies and she survives paralyzed herself.

Salomon now has the opportunity to look after them in the future and thus to control them completely.

Reviews

“Martha makes us cry. Martha inspires pity. Martha makes you angry. Martha is perfect - perfect in suffering, in bearing, in receiving. Martha is the symbol of masochism, the brilliantly insane self-deception. Martha is the symbol for a person who endures everything in his world and at the same time reacts aggressively to everything that calls his own world into question from outside. (...) This masochism is materialized as a mentality in which someone not only endures their own torments, but wants to endure them. This manifests itself in the fact that Martha turns the torment into a kind of virtue: She obeys her tormentor and illusions the torment of necessity, of 'joy', of the willingness to do everything for her marriage. "

- Film headquarters

"A terrifying black comedy - a devastating glimpse of a bourgeois marriage, performed in an over-the-top ornate style."

- Chicago Reader

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.

Trivia

  • The film is based on the short story of crime writer Cornell Woolrich "For the Rest of Her Life" (Eng. "For the rest of her life"), which was published in 1968 in " Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine "
  • The West German Broadcasting (WDR) a financial contribution to the production of the film.
  • The German cinema premiere took place in a restored version on November 17, 1997 after the production could not be shown in the cinema for 20 years for legal reasons.
  • The film also features Michael Ballhaus's famous 360-degree tracking shot . In addition Ballhaus:

“I try that the pictures tell something different than the dialogue. Something that people do not reveal with words. "

- Michael Ballhaus

“Of the films I've made with Fassbinder so far, I love Martha the most. With Martha we had a lot of time for Fassbinder's standards: 26 days of shooting. Fassbinder wanted me to shoot the whole film with just one lens, without zoom. We have adhered to this principle with a few exceptions. "

- Michael Ballhaus in "Fernsehspiele Westdeutscher Rundfunk 1974"
  • The film is characterized by an "artificially overloaded" aesthetic, which is intended to clarify the conventions of the bourgeoisie. In terms of costumes and style, the film is more reminiscent of the 1940s than the 1970s.
  • The baroque library hall shown in the film is the old library of Ottobeuren Abbey .
  • The cameraman of the film, Michael Ballhaus, can be seen in a supporting role in the film (as the man at the next table in the café in Konstanz).
  • The film was shot on 16 mm color film and later transferred to 35 mm format.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulrich Behrens, “Quälen und Leiden”, 2004, online at http://www.filmzentrale.com
  2. ↑ Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, “A horrific black comedy - a devastating view of bourgeois marriage rendered in a delirious baroque style.”, Online at onfilm.chicagoreader.com
  3. ^ Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Rainer Werner Fassbinder: poet, actor, filmmaker; Work exhibition May 28 - July 19, 1992. Argon, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-87024-212-4 , p. 50.