Features: DVD
Editor's Note
MARTHA: Rainer Werner Fassbinder's MARTHA presents a case study in abuse, terror, and victimhood in the form of its main character, the aging spinster Martha (Margit Carstensen). Suffering a constant stream of verbal abuse and domination of her life by both by her father and mother, Martha feels little remorse when her father dies suddenly while on vacation in Rome. Upon her return home, Martha chooses to escape from her mother by marrying Helmuth (Karlheinz Bohm). She soon finds, however, that Helmuth provides not rescue, but a further descent into terror.IN A YEAR WITH 13 MOONS presents a darkly comic, melodramatic study of a life in the midst of transformation and discovery. Erwin Weishaupt (Volker Spengler) desperately loves his girlfriend, and becomes devastated when she casually remarks that she wishes he were a woman. This comment sets Erwin on a journey to Casablanca, where he superficially transforms himself into a woman, Elvira. Upon her return to Frankfurt, Elvira wanders the streets, in search of both her past and her future. This film carries even greater emotional weight because Fassbinder began production only a short time after his own lover's suicide.
|
