Set from the final days of World War II to the early 1950s, the film follows the journeys and evolution of a woman who would marry a soldier in those final days only for him to disappear where she would take part in other ventures during his disappearance as a way to be part of this new economic miracle in postwar Germany. The film is an exploration of a woman in the course of her life from her wedding day to the culmination of everything she has worked for while maintaining her loyalty to her husband. The film’s screenplay that features additional work from Kurt Raab as it begins in 1943 Berlin during a battle where the titular character (Hanna Schygulla) and Hermann Braun (Klaus Lowitsch) are getting married while all of this chaos happens around them as he would leave the next day and then disappear as Germany would lose the war. During the course of the next eight years, Maria would do things to survive following news that claimed that Hermann has died where she engages in a brief romance with an African-American soldier in Bill (George Byrd) and then meet a wealthy industrialist in Karl Oswald (Ivan Desny) whom she would become his personal assistant.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s direction definitely has an air of style in terms of the way he moves his camera for a shot or in a location as well as play into this world of an old Germany during the final days of the war and the economic re-birth it would be a part of after the war. Shot largely on location in Coburg in then-West Germany and parts of West Berlin, Fassbinder plays into this period of World War II where it begins with Maria and Hermann being married while air raids are happening as it sets the chaotic tone of what is to come from the film. While there are some wide and medium shots to get a scope of the locations and places that Maria and other characters go to, there is a sense of style in the way Fassbinder would shoot a scene where he would use dolly-tracking shots to move the camera from one area and into another for a single take as it play into some of the drama.
There are some close-ups in the way Fassbinder reacts not just towards a character but also an object whether it’s a carton of cigarettes or an appliance as it would play into something that would foreshadow a lot of what it to come. Sex is a major proponent of the film in how Maria would use her sex appeal to get what she wants but it also plays from a woman that wanted to be love only to then use sex to get what she wants. The direction also play into her evolution where Fassbinder would slowly play into the changing times though not revealing when these events happen as it’s more about this woman being part of the times and finding herself although it would come at some major costs of her own sense of morals. Even towards the end as she becomes successful on her own yet there is still the matter of Hermann whom she is still married to as it play into his own existence and role in their marriage. Overall, Fassbinder crafts a captivating and mesmerizing film about a married woman trying to find her identity during the postwar years of Germany.
Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus does amazing work with the film’s cinematography as it is largely straightforward for many of the daytime exterior scenes along with some stylish lighting for a few of the interior scenes at night. Editors Rainer Werner Fassbinder (in his Franz Walsch pseudonym) and Juliane Lorenz do excellent work with the editing as it is straightforward as it allow shots to linger for a bit as well as cutting to play into some of the dramatic moments. Production designer Norbert Scherer, with set decorators Arno Mathes, Hans-Peter Sandmeir, and Andreas Wilms, does fantastic work with the look of the home where Maria lived with her mother as well as the home of Oswald and the house that Maria would buy late in the film. Costume designer Barbara Baum does brilliant work with the costumes in the dresses that Maria wore as it play into her evolving style from being a woman who wore ragged dresses to high fashion towards the end.
The makeup work of Anni Nobauer is terrific as it play to the look of the characters including Maria early in the film during her attempt to get a job. The sound work of Jim Willis and Milan Bor is superb for the natural approach to sound including some of the sparse moments as well as how music is presented. The film’s music by Peer Raben is wonderful for its low-key piano-based music as it help play into the drama along with some orchestral pieces while the soundtrack feature a lot of the big band and swing music of the times as well as some classical pieces.
The film’s marvelous ensemble cast feature some notable small roles and appearances from Rainer Werner Fassbinder as black markets dealer, Peter Berling as a club owner for American GIs to attend to, Hannes Kaetner as the justice of the peace in the film’s opening scene, Kristine de Loup as the notary in the opening scene, Gunther Kaufmann as a drunken American soldier on a train, Volker Spengler as a train conductor, Bruce Low as an American prosecutor in a trial that involved Maria, Karl-Heinz von Hassel as the German prosecutor, Sonja Neudorfer as a Red Cross nurse, Lilo Pempeit as Maria’s secretary in the third act, Isolde Barth as a woman who accompanies Senkenberg late in the film over business matters, Claus Holm as a doctor that Maria frequently visits, Anton Schiersner as Maria’s grandfather who lives at the apartment with her mother, and Gunter Lamprecht as Hans Wetzel whom Maria’s mother begins to have a relationship with in the film’s second half. George Byrd is superb as an African-American GI named Bill whom Maria would have an affair with early in the film until a major revelation would change everything while Hark Bohm is terrific as Oswald’s bookkeeper Senkenberg as someone who isn’t entirely fond of Maria but realizes her worth in terms of influence as well as admire her ambition.
Gottfried John and Elisabeth Trissenaar are fantastic in their respective roles as longtime friends in Willi and Betti Klenze as a married couple who joins Maria’s ascent with the latter being someone who wants more while the former is someone who just wants simple things as he was also close to Hermann. Gisela Uhlen is excellent as Maria’s mother as a woman who encourages Maria to succeed but then feels alienated by what success has turned Maria into. Ivan Desny is brilliant as Karl Oswald as a textile industrialist who befriends Maria in a train as they later engage in their own affairs while he deals with his own mortality knowing he doesn’t have much time to live.
Klaus Lowitsch is amazing as Hermann Braun as a soldier that Maria would marry as he would be seen briefly for a bit as someone who is a man that is devoted to Maria as he would be this symbolic figure of love whom Maria is often attached to. Finally, there’s Hanna Schygulla in a phenomenal performance as the titular character as this woman who gets married only for her husband to disappear where she tries to find her identity where Schygulla displays a radiance to her role as well as this air of evolution from being a prostitute to a woman of power who still clings to her love for Hermann while coping with the affairs she engages in.
Die ehe der Maria Braun is a tremendous film from Rainer Werner Fassbinder that features an incredible leading performance from Hanna Schygulla. Along with its ensemble cast, dazzling visuals, a lively music soundtrack, and its theme of a woman trying to find her own identity during the postwar era. It is a film that explores this journey a woman takes where she becomes part of this economic rebirth while dealing with the fact that she is a married woman whose husband is lost with his own uncertain fate. In the end, Die ehe der Maria Braun is a spectacular film from Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder Films: Love is Colder than Death - (Katzelmacher) - (Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?) - (Rio das Mortes) - (The American Soldier) - (Whity) - (Beware of a Holy Whore) - The Merchant of Four Seasons - The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant - Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day - (Jailbait) - World on a Wire - Ali: Fear Eats the Soul - (Martha (1974 film)) - (Effi Briest) - (Fox and His Friends) - (Mother Kuster’s Trip to Heaven) – (I Only Want You to Love Me) – Satan's Brew - (Chinese Roulette) - (Germany in Autumn) - (Despair) - (In a Year of 13 Moons) - (Third Generation) - Berlin Alexanderplatz - (Lili Marleen) - Lola (1981 film) - Veronika Voss – Querelle
© thevoid99 2021
Based on the novel Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye, Welt am Draht (World on a Wire) is the story of an engineer who makes a chilling discovery in the corporation he works for involving conspiracies following the death of a colleague. Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and screenplay by Fassbinder and Fritz Muller-Scherz, the film is a two-part sci-fi miniseries that blends with all sorts of genres from film noir, melodrama, and suspense as it play into a man pondering his own existence in a world where everyone is trying to find answers through machines. Starring Klaus Lowitsch, Barbara Valentin, Mascha Rabben, Karl Heinz Vosgerau, Wolfgang Schenck, Gunter Lamprecht, and Ulli Lommel. Welt am Draht is an evocative yet whimsical film from Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Set in modern-day Cologne, West Germany, the film revolves around a murder mystery where an engineer is trying to find out what happened as sudden disappearances have occurred while becoming a target from his superiors. It’s a film that explores a man who is trying to deal with these mysterious events around him while trying out this new simulation experiment that the company he works for is making. Yet, he would question the world he’s in as it raises a lot of questions into the people that disappeared as well as who to trust. The film’s screenplay by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Fritz Muller-Scherz definitely explore the idea of reality but also fantasy in what humans want to experience. Yet, it is about the mystery of what this man in Fred Stiller (Klaus Lowitsch) is trying to discover as the film is split into two parts as it was originally made as a two-part miniseries. The first part is about the mysterious death of Professor Henry Vollmer (Adrian Hoven) and the sudden disappearance of Stiller’s friend Gunther Lause (Ivan Desny) at a party Stiller was at.
The script would have Stiller try and solve everything while being promoted as the technical director for the company he works for as he suspects one of the bosses in Herbert Siskins (Karl Heinz Vosgerau). Stiller has few he could trust as he also encounter’s Vollmer’s daughter Eva (Mascha Rabben) who wants to know what happens to her father. The second part isn’t just about the world that Stiller is in but there’s also a strange twist which definitely blurs what is happening around him. Especially where he becomes a suspect of Vollmer’s murder and comes to term with the fact that he knows too much and his superiors want him dead. Then there’s the stuff about technology and how it can manipulate one’s perception of reality which is prominent in the film as the simulation machine that Stiller is trying to observe has him realize of its power and how it can distort things.
Fassbinder’s direction is definitely stylish for not just the world he creates inside the emerging world of supercomputers but also for setting it in modern times rather than the future. Shot on 16mm film and on location in Cologne, West Germany, Fassbinder would largely set the film in some of the business sections but also use locations such as shopping malls where some of the characters meet. Though it’s shot in the 1:33:1 full-frame aspect ratio which was common with television in those times, Fassbinder is able to use that format to his advantage in some of the wide and medium shots. Using some dolly-tracking shots for some of the camera movements, Fassbinder showcases a world that does feel modern but also a bit futuristic in some respects. Yet, he takes his time in unveiling bits and pieces where the film does start off slow in order to establish the characters, environment, and the situation that Stiller is in.
Fassbinder would also create hints in the first part of the film to showcase things that could play into this world that Stiller is in as it blur the line in reality and fiction. Once the big reveal in the first half is presented, it does change the tone of the film into something that is far more intriguing but also filled with a lot of twists and turns. There isn’t a lot of big moments of action in the film as it’s more about ideas and motivations as Fassbinder wants the audience to follow the events as well as antagonists planning their next move. By the time the film reaches its climax where Stiller would uncover some truth, it is once again about the world that he’s in and how it may not be the reality that he or anyone wants. Especially when there are things around him that doesn’t make any sense where he comes into question about who he is. Overall, Fassbinder creates a hypnotic yet rapturous film about a man questioning himself and his own environment while solving a murder mystery.
Cinematographers Michael Ballhaus and Ulrich Prinz do brilliant work with the film’s grainy yet colorful cinematography as it play into the dazzling lights inside some of the interiors as well as some of the exterior scenes at night. Editors Marie Anne Gerhardt and Ursula Elles do amazing work with the editing as its usage of jump-cuts and other stylish cuts help play to the film’s methodical pacing as well as in creating some of its eerie moments of suspense. Production designers Kurt Raab, Horst Giese, and Walter Koch do incredible work with the set design from the supercomputer room and the simulation room plus the homes of some of the characters to play into their personalities. Costume designer Gabrielle Pillon does fantastic work with the design of the dresses that the women wear as well as some of the clothes of the men to play into their own personalities
The makeup work by Rosemarie Schonartz is terrific for the way some of the women look in the film as well as other oddball characters that Stiller would meet like a waiter a nightclub. The sound work of Hans Pampuch and Ernst Thomas is superb for not just the sparseness in some of the quieter moments but how some of the screeching sounds of electronics come into play to try and stop Stiller from discovering something as it add so much to the environment he’s in. The film’s music by Gottfried Hungsberg and Archives is excellent for its mixture of orchestral and electronic music that play into the suspense and drama while the music soundtrack features an array of classical music pieces as well as contemporary cuts from Elvis Presley and Fleetwood Mac.
The film’s phenomenal cast include some notable small roles from Eddie Constantine as a man who gives Stiller a ride late in the film, El Hedi ben Salem as a corporate hood in Castro, Rudolph Lenz as the corporate chief Hartmann, Kurt Raab as Siskins’ new corporate observer Mark Holm, Ingrid Caven as a reporter’s secretary, Joachim Hansen as the executive Hans Edelkern, Adrian Hoven as Professor Vollmer, and Ivan Desny as Stiller’s friend Gunther Lause who tells him about Vollmer’s death before he mysteriously disappears. Ulli Lommel is terrific as the reporter Rupp who is one of the few that believes that Stiller is telling the truth while Wolfgang Schenck is superb as the inspector Franz Hahn who also makes a discovery that proves that Stiller is innocent until he behaves quite strangely. Margit Carstensen is wonderful as Maya Schmidt-Genter as a lover of Stiller who only appears occasionally as someone that is a source of comfort until she too acts strangely towards him.
Barbara Valentin is fantastic as Stiller’s secretary Gloria Fromm as a beautiful and voluptuous woman who is quite ambiguous in her motives yet later realizes what is really going on. Gunter Lamprecht is excellent as Fritz Walfang as a scientist who has help create the simulation machine as he becomes aware of what is really going on as he becomes one of the few who believes Stiller. Karl-Heinz Vosgerau is brilliant as Herbert Siskins as a corporate executive who tries to cover up a murder while plotting many things in the hope he would silence Stiller. Mascha Rabben is amazing as Eva Vollmer as the daughter of Professor Vollmer who is trying to figure out what happened to her father while befriending Stiller who she believes can help him while also being mysterious herself. Finally, there’s Klaus Lowitsch in an incredible performance as Fred Stiller as an engineer who finds himself trying to solve a murder where he questions his own self and existence as it’s a very engaging performance that has him be the every-man but also with some anguish and humor.
Welt am Draht is a tremendous film from Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Featuring a great cast, imaginative set designs, a provocative and enthralling premise, and a hypnotic soundtrack. It’s a film that definitely plays against the conventional aspects of sci-fi while also delving into massive themes of self-being and the world that people live in whether it’s reality or fantasy. In the end, Welt am Draht is a spectacular film from Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder Films: Love is Colder Than Death - (Katzelmacher) - (Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?) - (Rio das Mortes) - (The American Soldier) - (Whity) - (Beware of a Holy Whore) - The Merchant of Four Seasons - The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant - Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day - (Jailbait) - Ali: Fear Eats the Soul - (Martha (1974 film)) - (Effi Briest) - (Fox and His Friends) - (Mother Kuster’s Trip to Heaven) - Satan's Brew - (Chinese Roulette) - (Germany in Autumn) - (Despair) - (In a Year of 13 Moons) - The Marriage of Maria Braun - (Third Generation) - Berlin Alexanderplatz - (Lili Marleen) - Lola (1981 film) - Veronika Voss - Querelle
© thevoid99 2017
