Film: The Marriage of Maria Braun/ Die Ehe der Maria Braun

Essay Title: Die Ehe der Maria Braun: Narratives of

Reconstruction in post-war Germany

Formatting: APA Sixth Edition

"A director must be a policeman, a midwife, a psychoanalyst, a sycophant

and a bastard"
Billy Wilder

Introduction
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's production, Die Ehe der Maria Braun CITATION Ant89 \l 18441
demonstrates brilliantly the handling of the inextricability of the personal and the
political CITATION Ant89 \l 18441 in immediate post-war Germany, where "Political
Geschichte(history)" commingles with "Geschichten(stories)" in the film (Kaes, 1989, p. 29),
to both reflect and critique the sociopolitical situation of the decade from 1944-1954.
Produced in 1978 in West Germany (Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation), the film is a
thematic part of Fassbinder's BRD CITATION Ant89 \l 18441 Trilogy, which deals retrospectively with
post-war "challenges of occupation policy and open markets,... native debates over the
content of a democratic German culture and the agents of its control, and the redefinition of
social (and gender) identities" (Fehrenbach, 1995, p. 6).
This essay will analyse first the embodiment of gender relations, for it is through these
private interactions that symbolic commentaries are made about the state of post-war
Germany. Next, this essay will examine the producers' portrayal of and response to West
German interactions with the Allied Powers. Through both these private and public
interactions, the film then enacts the producers' perceptions of the state of supposed
democracy in Germany.
CITATION Ant89 \l 18441 Henceforth referred to as Die Ehe
CITATION Ant89 \l 18441 "The Personal is Political" is a popular slogan used to
"underscore the connections between personal experience and larger social and
political structures" (The personal is political, 2014)
CITATION Ant89 \l 18441 Bundesrepublik Deutschlands, also known as the
Federal Republic of Germany

1. Of Gender Relations
Wartime Germany saw the transferral of a large bulk of German men to war zones, such that
by the time the Second World War was over, many of these German men ended up either as
casualties or prisoners of war (Fehrenbach, p. 95). German women in turn then 'outnumbered'
men by '7.3 million' in 1945 (Fehrenbach, p. 95). The culmination of social-psychological
effects of war and this dramatic demographic transformation had significant bearings on both
individual gender identities, as well as on inter-gender interaction.
1.1 Emasculation of the German Male
Multiple sociological studies have elucidated how the German man that did actually make it
back alive from the war was "often physically or psychologically scarred", "unwilling or
unable to work", where his countenance was complained to demonstrate a "frightening
paralysis of will" (Fehrenbach, p. 95). These were said to be rooted in feelings of "profound
dishonour and despair", given German defeat (Fehrenbach, p. 96).
This phenomenon, coined as the "emasculation" (Fehrenbach, p. 97) of the post-war German
man, is manifest variously in Die Ehe. The doctor examining the protagonist, Maria Braun, is
characterized as resigned and weak. He "lean[s] against the wall..as if he were ill", and
speaks forlornly of being "too old to live and too sad to forget" (Rheuban, 1986, pp. 57-59).
Dramatic non-diagetic music increases suddenly and rapidly in volume and he is framed by
large, looming shadows as he injects himself with drugs he has come to be dependent on, thus
indeed effectively portraying him pathetically as one who has morbidly given up on life.
Maria's grandfather is shown to be asleep half the time, hard of hearing, dressed in clothes
too big for him and adept only mostly at 'snitching food' (McCormick, 1980) and of beating

others to the use of the restroom- in short, a rather weasley, although harmless character. The
popular perception of the emasculated German man is further confirmed, when female
characters throughout the film sigh, for instance, of the "men still loo[king] like men then",
and of there being no "proper men anymore", in response to the appearance and behaviour of
the men. The enactment of the phenomenon of emasculation of the German man is also taken
up to a metaphorical level, where the Vaterland's dignity is undermined. The national anthem,
a piece glorifying the Vaterland, is played rather poorly on the black market by an accordion
player, and is shouted at disgruntledly to stop playing it. A possible symbolic reading of this
is that it has become embarrassing to hear of it, given the defeated state of Germany. The
accordion was also a deliberate artistic choice, as it was then seen as an instrument of the
commoners, rather than as an official instrument; therefore relegating its value (Calvano,
2010). Furthermore, it was also chosen because of the specific melancholic sound it produced
(Calvano, 2010), thereby intensifying the feeling of pity for the once mighty but now "halfdevastated", "crippled" (Kaes, p. 83) Vaterland.
The emasculation of the German male is perhaps elucidated most starkly when Maria's
husband, Hermann, stumbles into a scene where Maria and an African-American soldier, Bill,
are in bed. Hermann responds firstly by pushing Maria non-chivalrously, pauses, and then
runs in an almost greedy, comical fashion to use Bill's cigarettes which he spots on the
bedside table. Bill gives him a look of contempt and later on calmly and comfortingly
embraces the frenetic Hermann. The phenomenon of the emasculated German man is thus
given an international layer of humiliation, whereby he, meaning the old Germany, is
portrayed as crestfallen and contemptible, in contrast to the gallant American. This
comparison was part of the zeitgeist reflected amongst the German masses, where youth
preferred to "[look] to Hollywood for a new model of male identity", one which boasted
"mach[ismo]" and "self-assurance" (Fehrenbach, pp. 166-167).

1.2 The Strong German Female

The emasculation of the German male cannot be understood fully without a tandem analysis
of the German woman. The war required the taking on of new roles by the German women,
where traditional roles such as wife and "helpmate" were "repudiated", having to acclimatize
themselves to the realities of "provid[ing] for themselves and their children, nightly bombing
raids, evacuations, epidemics...brutalization and rape" (Fehrenbach, p. 96). Many German
men were "shocked" upon their return at "finding not the young, amiable, and soft-spoken
wives ... but women rendered haggard, hardened and self-reliant as a result of the war on the
home front" (Fehrenbach, p. 96). The duality of a character of both self-reliant strength and of
a hardened spirit is very tellingly embodied in Maria Braun, who symbolizes war-torn (West)
Germany, the figure who must "pick herself up from the ashes of war and national disgrace"
(Rheuban, p. 215). Part of this recovery involved intensive subscription to the Allies' imposed
ideology of free-market capitalism, as demonstrated for instance in West Germany's
obligatory membership in the European Steel and Coal Community, the enactment of the
Marshall Plan and American-Allies attempts to liberalise the German film industry and to
flood it with ideology-infused West-friendly films, especially when Cold War politics started
to intensify (Fehrenbach, p. 69). Diagetic sound inclusions of American radio broadcasts
relaying such policies, like the Morgenthau Plan further reinforce the historical confluence of
Allied-administered recovery plans for West Germany.
Maria's engagement with capitalism is as such reflected multiply in her romantic
relationships with both the American Bill and the French-German bourgeoisie industrialist
Oswald. The element of capitalism is played out when she pursues her relationships with
these men largely for material gain, given her relative poverty after the war. This is especially
so in her relationship with Oswald, where she calls herself the "Mata Hari of the economic
miracle". This is a particularly pertinent reference, firstly considering how Mata Hari was a

woman who had French-German connections during World War I , secondly considering how
she relied on her powers of seduction to satisfy her needs, be they material or physical, and
thirdly on how she used "her men friends for her livelihood (Rennell, 2007). The second trait
is exhibited clearly in her purchase of a revealing, black dress on the black market, the means
by which she utilizes to enhance her attractiveness in both the pub occupied by the
Americans, and in the first-class cabin of the train in her encounter with Oswald. Maria's
engagement with capitalism is further manifest by her commanding presence and her ability
to converse in English in traditionally male-dominated spaces, for instance in the workplace
amidst discussions regarding hefty business deals. Her self-assuredness is unequivocal when
she responds with a sanguine "Good. I'll be the first" to Oswald's accountant, Senkenberg's
comment on there being no women in the top positions yet. Finally, by situating Maria's selfproclamation as the Mata Hari of the "economic miracle", where the Wirtschaftswunder
denotes the rapid economic success of post-war West Germany, Fassbinder also confirms
Maria's symbolism as the New Germany who has engaged in multiple international
relationships to advance its path on free-market capitalism.
2. Of Post-war Ideologies and Reactions
2.1 Of Capitalism and Sovereignty Worries
The incursion of externally-imposed capitalism and foreign influence in spheres both
political CITATION Ant89 \l 18441 and cultural CITATION Ant89 \l 18441 was pervasive to the extent where it
became a pressing concern for both the "native elites" and masses alike to "re-establish [both
CITATION Ant89 \l 18441 Besides the splitting of post-war Germany into 4
foreign-administered spheres, American policies of military occupation were also
enacted unilaterally (Fehrenbach, p. 62).
CITATION Ant89 \l 18441 These included Allied "screening of films based on
political or ideological content and determination to trace out national socialism"
(Fehrenbach, 1995)

territorial and cultural] national integrity" and "political sovereignty" (Fehrenbach, p. 6).
These historical fears and concerns regarding the need to maintain a certain national integrity
are expressed once again through Geschichten. A comparison of Maria's expressions towards
her lovers Bill and Oswald in relation to her husband Hermann makes this clear: She is
"fond" of Bill and accepts the material gifts he has for her, but she will not "marry" him;
likewise, she initiates copulation with Oswald and is in a relationship with him for the
material benefits he can offer her, but she insists that he has "no right[s]" over her, and rejects
directly his offer of marriage too. These marital rejections are rooted in her love for and
marriage with Hermann. Hence, when one considers the common biblical assertion that
marriage constitutes the union of two such that they become one, Maria's insistence on her
maintenance of marital fidelity with her German husband Hermann and her symbolism as the
new Germany thus reflects the deep-rooted compulsion for the safeguarding of a national
integrity. Temporary, non-binding relationships are acceptable, so long as they contribute only
to the rebuilding of an assured future for Germany (collectively Maria and Hermann), for it is
for the purpose of having a comfortable future together that Maria/New Germany engages in
relationships with her lovers. Understood in its metaphorical context, post-war West Germany
thus maintains a delicate balance, just as federal officials "carefully cultivated their
stage..with an eye toward promoting the sovereignty of their Germany, in a way that flaunted
their new Western political orientation", thus " establishing a careful balance" politically
necessary in the immediate post-war context (Fehrenbach, p. 235).

2.2 Fassbinder's Critique of Capitalism : Dehumanization of Society

Despite the material advancements availed to West Germany, Fassbinder makes his damning
opinion of post-war West-German free-market capitalism very clear, through the character

development of Maria. The start of Maria's engagement in profit-driven behaviour is when

she undergoes a makeover by her friend, and they sing of not "shed[ding] tears". Although
this is sung amidst genuine laughter, this hardening of the personality is seen to compound as
Maria increases in wealth. Maria's mother reacts in a mixture of shock and disbelief when
Maria speaks emotionlessly about her father's death and of how she herself has replaced his
socioeconomic role as provider. Her mother exclaims that she has "changed so much" that she
is "like a stranger", with Maria quipping disinterestedly, almost sarcastically in response "and
[I'm] [also] cold, right"? The lover of Maria's mother however responds that "that's nothing
unusual these days", thus reflecting a certain common identification with the stoic behaviour
characteristic of one familiar with capitalistic behaviour. The harshness with which Maria
increasingly berates Oswald and the impassive confidence she exhibits when she talks
knowingly of Oswald's bequeathment to her in his will furthers Fassbinder's point on the
dehumanizing effect of capitalism, where feelings can be "purchased" (Rheuban, p. 221),
manipulated in the interest of material gain. The unfeeling effect of capitalism on the
individual is however epitomized most clearly when Maria snaps at the delivery-man, that
she would "rather pay than say thanks", where monetary transaction substitutes human
relations. The scene of Maria's near-irrational losing of her temper with the delivery-man
shows her framed tightly behind the solid window grills of her grandiose new house also
further reinforces Maria's mother's exasperated accusation that she lives like she "were in
prison". The artful use of misc-en-scene is thus especially effective in underscoring
Fassbinder's condemnation of a dogged, ruthless capitalism and its materialistic values,
denouncing it as being "ultimately destructive" (Calvano, p. 6) for the individual and thereby,
post-war German society at large.
2.3 Of a Collective Amnesia

Fassbinder's critique of capitalism within post-war West Germany is given an even more
ominous slant when one reads into the sociopolitical mood of the immediate post-war period.
Capitalism was seen to function as a coping mechanism for the Germans, where "repressed
political and psychological energies" were "rechanneled into the physical reconstruction of
Germany" (Kaes, p. 14). Political apathy was seen to abound, as the immediate burden of the
past became a "taboo" subject, with the older generation "consciously or unconsciously"
forbidding "all questions" about it (Kaes, p. 76). This apathy is enacted most visibly in the
domestic space of the home in Die Ehe, where the characters are seen to focus their energies
and excitement totally on their food and material topics, such as getting a house. They are
shown to be oblivious to the background sounds of their radio, broadcasting Adenauer's
fervent opposition of the Federal Republic's rearmament (Kaes, p. 82). The volume of the
radio, a diagetic sound, has been deliberately tuned by the producers to be louder than it
should be, deliberately grabbing the watcher's attention. The contrast in the lack of attention
paid to it by the characters themselves thus reflects Fassbinder's point, on the "deficient
political awareness of most Germans during the reconstruction period", where "practical
survival..take[s] precedence over the work of memory and mourning." (Kaes, p. 82)
This "collective amnesia" (Kaes, p. 19) in the era of the Wirtschaftswunder constituted more
layers, in the form of Heimatfilme and of repressive governmental action. The Heimatfilm
was a genre of film popularized in Germany in the 1950s, where it provided a means of
psychological escape from both the trauma of the past and the economic difficulties of the
present, focusing on a romanticisation of a "historical cultural heritage grounded in affective
ties of matrimony, family and community", portraying nature scenes of "visual excess" and
thus allowing indulgence in "nostalgia" of a preferred, untainted past (Fehrenbach, p. 152).
This had the effect of depoliticizing the past as a whole, evading the burden of the recent past,
allowing the community to collectively move on as a whole. This phenomenon is cleverly

manifest in the characterisation of the doctor, who, symbolising the feeble masculinity of
defeated Germany, speaks of having "learned to forget", and of his plans to move to the
"Black Forest", the latter itself a very common trope in Heimatfilme.
Fassbinder's work itself was also a response to a state-administered amnesia. The Autumn of
1977 in Germany saw the responses of a strong West German state in response to multiple
acts of terrorism, in the forms of "intensified security measures" which "restricted freedom of
expression", "news blackout[s]" and heavily edited "official versions[s] of events" (Kaes, pp.
24-25). This provoked members of the New German Cinema, Fassbinder included, to
"concern [them]selves with the images of [their] country", even if it were to appear "in its
most inhuman form" as part of Germany's collective "struggle" to "come to terms with its
own past" (Kaes, p. 34).
2.4 Of Political Implications on German Democracy
The pervasiveness of this collective amnesia is cinematically argued by Fassbinder to allow a
continuation of the evils of the past, of a "particularly subtle and sophisticated form of
totalitarianism", not dissimilar to the "Hitler regime" (Kaes, p. 25). Of particular exigency for
Fassbinder is Adenauer's policy of West German rearmament where for him this signified a
renewal of the "old order" with the "financial aid and military support of from its new
American partners" (Rheuban, p. 8). Die Ehe includes diagetically the radio broadcasts of
two of Adenauer speeches, firstly of his passionate disavowal of the rearmament of West
Germany, that there have been "enough killed". A later scene however broadcasts a complete
switch in position in 1954 declaring belligerently Germany's "right to rearm", "as much as
we can, as much as we want" (Rheuban, p. 145). For Fassbinder then, post-war Germany was
not so much a Stunde Null CITATION Hei95 \l 18441 , where "everything seemed possible" and there
CITATION Hei95 \l 18441 Stunde Null literally translates to Zero Hour, and it was
a reference to the perceived sociopolitical restart of Germany after the war

was "the chance to found a state that could have been the most humane and freest ever"
(Kaes, p. 79), but rather merely a sinister continuation of the past. This was in line with the
thought of several intellectuals like Hannah Arendt and Hans Enzensberger, who feared the
"end of the second Germany Democracy" (Kaes, p. 100). Maria's killing of Bill in her
perceived bid to protect Hermann from the former can thus be symbolically read as the
failure of American-imposed democracy in Germany, where new Germany prefers to hark
back to the past, obliterating democracy in the process. This ominousness is further
confirmed stylistically in Die Ehe, where the film starts with a portrait of Hitler, and ends
with a string of portraits of the various subsequent German chancellors. The use of film
negatives for the latter creates a heightened feeling of eeriness and thus supplements
Fassbinder's dystopic view of Germany's political future, where the "soil that nourished antiSemitism [still] [is] fertile" (Kaes, p. 94). The effects of such an evolution are manifest in the
figure of Maria, who vomits violently after Adenauer's second speech is broadcasted.
Geschichte then "breaks" into Geschichten (Kaes, p. 83), where Maria's incapacitation
becomes metaphor for the political sickness which Fassbinder foresees Germany descending
into.

Conclusion
Die Ehe thus cleverly incorporates an understanding of Geschichte through Geschichten,
where concurrent strands of ideologies and events of multiple types- political, economic,
demographic, social, psychological, emotional- intersect each other at multiple scales,
revealing through these private stories the variegated development of West Germany after the
Second World War. The multiple upheavals in the wake of the war and the fears, hopes, joys
and weaknesses of a recovering nation, as perceived by the producers, are expressed in
(Kaes, 1989).

gendered bodies and their interactions. Above all, the continuities of history are stressed,
where the film itself serves both as one of the multiple mirrors existent in the period and as a
pertinent warning, against the complacency and the willed amnesia of the German people, by
demonstrating that their very own Geschichten will play a part in what will one day be their
people's Geschichte.

Bibliography
Calvano, O. (2010). Zum Einsatz von Musik, Klngen, Tnen und Geruschen in
DIE EHE DER MARIA BRAUN von Rainer Werner Fassbinder und Peer Raben.
Kieler Beitrge zur Filmmusikforschung, 1-13.
Fehrenbach, H. (1995). Introduction. The University of North Carolina Press.
Kaes, A. (1989). Images of History. London: Harvard University Press.
McCormick, R. (1980). The Marriage of Maria Braun by Rainer Werner Fassbinder;
Peter Marthesheimer;Pia Frhlich. Cineaste, 34-36.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved 07 10, 2014, from
http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/movies/die-ehe-der-maria-braun/#
Rennell, T. (10 08, 2007). Mata Hari was only interested in one thing - and it
wasn't espionage. Retrieved from Mail Online:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-474631/Mata-Hari-interestedthing--wasnt-espionage.html
Rheuban, J. (1986). The Marriage of Maria Braun. Rutgers, The State University.
The personal is political. (22 September, 2014). Retrieved from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_personal_is_political