Line #26 Film/TheMarriageOfMariaBraun


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4	->''"It's not a good time for feelings."''
5	-->--'''Maria Braun'''
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7	''The Marriage of Maria Braun'' (''Die Ehe der Maria Braun'') is a 1979 UsefulNotes/{{West German\|y}} film directed by Creator/RainerWernerFassbinder, starring Fassbinder's [[TheMuse muse]] Creator/HannaSchygulla, as well as Klaus Löwitsch and Creator/GottfriedJohn.
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9	In a wrecked [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII post-war Germany]], Wehrmacht officer's wife Maria Braun tries to adjust on a post-Nazi society and becomes the mistress of a businessman and a successful business woman herself, whole trying to build a future for her and her husband Hermann. The film itself is a parable for West Germany's economical miracle.
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11	The film was perhaps the most successful work of Fassbinder, and the first installment of his BRD Trilogy, followed by ''Film/VeronikaVoss'' and ''Lola''. It is also a Creator/RogerEbert favourite and added the film to his Great Movies List.
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13	!! This film features the following tropes:
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15	* BetaCouple: Maria's friends Willi and Betti Klenze [[spoiler: who eventually go through a divorce]].
16	* BookEnds: The film starts and ends with an explosion: the former is an Allied bombing raid, the latter [[spoiler: a domestic accident that blows up Maria's home]].
17	* CunningLinguist: Maria starts to work for Karl Oswald as an English translator until she becomes an executive herself.
18	* DoggedNiceGuy: Both Bill and Karl Oswald are this for the already married Maria.
19	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Maria and Hermann die for a random ([[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation or maybe not]]) domestic accident, just ''minutes'' after they gained the wealth they've been wishing since the War's end.]]
20	* FemmeFatale: A rare protagonist example, as Maria uses her beauty, sexuality and brains to survive Post-war society.
21	* GorgeousPeriodDress: Maria wears ''very'' fancy clothes when as she's getting wealthier and wealthier.
22	* {{Irony}}: The finale [[spoiler:has the Braun kitchen blowing up in a domestic accident while the radio plays the final minutes of Herbert Zimmermann's commentary for the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, in which the West German football team defeated Hungary's Mighty Magyars]].
23	* IWillWaitForYou: Despite her (necessary) infidelities, the leitmotif of this film is Maria waiting for her husband to come back.
24	* TheMistress: Maria becomes the mistress of entrepreneur Karl Oswald, constantly turning off his marriage proposal and keeping her marriage a secret.
25	* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler: Maria accidentally murders Bill when he puts out a fight with Hermann who has just come back from the Eastern front.]]
26	* ParentWithNewParamour: Surprisingly, Maria's mother finds a new partner despite her DespairSpeech about losing the love of her life at the beginning of the film.
27	* PostHistoricalTrauma: This film deals with the trauma of the post-war German generation, dealing both with the violence and fallout of the war, perhaps more than any work made by Fassbinder.
28	* RagsToRiches: The main point of the plot is Maria becoming from poor war refugee to a wealthy businesswoman. How she got there and how it affected her personally is [[SweetAndSourGrapes totally another matter]].
29	* WartimeWedding: The very first scene has the protagonist Maria marrying her Wehrmacht beau During an allied bombing raid.
30	* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: Maria has a loving relationship with Bill, and Afro-American soldier who gets her pregnant and asks her to marry him, which she turns down because wants to stay faithful to the presumably dead Hermann in her own way. [[spoiler: And then Hermann comes back and finds the two of them making out...]]
31	* WhiteShirtOfDeath: Maria wears a fancy white dress in her last scene [[spoiler: just before her house is blown up and she dies]].

Context Film / TheMarriageOfMariaBraun