Fassbinder On Melodrama - 3-DVD Set ( Effi Briest / Martha / Fear of Fear ) ( Fontane - Effi Briest )

Fassbinder On Melodrama - 3-DVD Set (DVD) (*)

$32.99

Original Title: Effi Briest / Martha / Fear of Fear
Alternate Title: Fontane - Effi Briest
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Berlin International Film Festival

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/Region 4 )

Running Time:
322 min + 79 min extras

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
3-DVD Set
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Commentary
Documentary
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Black & White

Movie filmed in 1974 - 1975 and produced in:
Germany ( Germany, Central Europe )

Directed By:
Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Written By:
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Theodor Fontane
Cornell Woolrich
Asta Scheib

Actors:
Hanna Schygulla ..... Effi Briest
Wolfgang Schenck ..... Baron Geert von Instetten
Ulli Lommel ..... Major Crampas
Lilo Pempeit ..... Louise Briest, Mutter
Herbert Steinmetz ..... Herr Briest, Vater
Ursula Strätz ..... Roswitha, Kindermädchen
Irm Hermann ..... Johanna, Haushälterin
Karlheinz Böhm ..... Geheimrat Wüllersdorf
Karl Scheydt ..... Kruse
Barbara Lass ..... Polnische Köchin
Rudolf Lenz ..... Geheimrat Rummschüttel
Andrea Schober ..... Annie von Instetten, Tochter
Eva Mattes ..... Hulda
Theo Tecklenburg ..... Pastor Niemeyer
An Dorthe Braker ..... Frau Pasche
Margit Carstensen ..... Martha Salomon, née Heyer
Karlheinz Böhm ..... Helmut Salomon
Barbara Valentin ..... Marianne
Peter Chatel ..... Kaiser
Gisela Fackeldey ..... Mother Heyer
Adrian Hoven ..... Father Heyer
Ortrud Beginnen ..... Erna
Wolfgang Schenck ..... Meister
Günter Lamprecht ..... Dr. Herbert Salomon
El Hedi ben Salem ..... Hotel guest
Rudolf Lenz ..... Porter
Kurt Raab ..... Secretary - German embassy
Elma Karlowa ..... Waitress
Heide Simon
Lilo Pempeit
Margit Carstensen ..... Margot
Ulrich Faulhaber ..... Kurt, ihr Mann
Brigitte Mira ..... Mutter
Irm Hermann ..... Lore
Armin Meier ..... Karli
Adrian Hoven ..... Dr. Merck
Kurt Raab ..... Herr Bauer
Ingrid Caven ..... Edda
Lilo Pempeit ..... Mrs. Schall
Helga Maerthesheimer ..... Dr. von Unruh
Herbert Steinmetz ..... Dr. Auer
Hark Bohm ..... Dr. Rozenbaum
Constanze Haas ..... Bibi, Margots Tochter

Synopsis:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the enfant terrible of the New German Cinema, drew much of his inspiration from the work of his idol, the German-born king of Hollywood melodrama, Douglas Sirk. Each of these three films is centred on a woman who is under pressure from those around her to conform, and Fassbinder adopts the stylized acting and framing techniques of the 1950s melodrama to explore the frailty of the human condition and the strength of the individual in the face of these oppressive forces.
Effi Briest (1974)
Nave, youthful Effi is forced to marry the much older and well-connected Baron von Instetten. But after meeting the dashing and handsome Major Crampas, Effi finds herself torn between passion and respectability.
Martha (1974)
When Martha falls for the charming Helmut, she is completely unaware of the drastic extent to which his sadistic desires will alter her life.
Fear of Fear (1975)
While pregnant with her second child, Margot experiences crippling anxiety, which she fears will drive her insane. Desperate to maintain her sanity, Margot begins to rely on a dangerous cocktail of cognac and Valium.

Effi Briest (1974)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's adaptation of a late 19th-century novel by Theodor Fontane is an austere period piece that may be the least characteristic of the German director's films. The titular heroine, played by Fassbinder regular Hanna Schygulla, is a 17-year-old girl forced into a loveless marriage with an old count. Living as the aristocrat's trophy wife, Effi endures her provincial existence unhappily. Her circumstances lead to a brief affair with a young lieutenant that attracts the attention of the townspeople, but not her unsuspecting husband's. Years later, however, the count discovers the love letters between his wife and her lover. As dictated by convention, he challenges the lieutenant to a duel and throws his wife out of their home. The shamed Effi is forced to live by herself, shunned by society and spurned by her family. Effi eventually returns to her unsympathetic parents, who reluctantly take in their disgraced daughter.

Martha (1974)
A single woman in her early thirties, Martha (Margit Carstensen) is on vacation with her father in Europe when he has a heart attack and falls down dead. She reacts rather indifferently and returns home to her highly-strung mother and begins to new era of her life taking care of a completely ungrateful and insulting mother (declining an offer of marriage from her boss). After a barrage of verbal abuse and offensive remarks from her mother who see's her as an 'ugly old spinster' she accepts a proposal of marriage from an equally insulting and disrespectful man, Helmuth. They honeymoon in Italy. While there Helmuth resigns Martha from the job that she loves, sends her mother to a mental institution, and lets his wife get horribly burnt in the sun while sleeping, then painfully rapes her. Martha gets back to Germany to find that Helmuth has rented them a new house, and she will not be able to return to her old home even to collect any of her things, which he says must be left behind her. At first the naive and immature Martha believes that her husbands childish temper and selfishness, his domineering possessiveness, his lack of respect, and his violent sexual preferences are just a normal part of marriage. Later, against her husbands order she leaves the house and befriends an old work-mate, Herr Kaiser, who tell her Helmuth is a sadist. While Kaiser and Martha are driving together Martha becomes convinced that her husband is following her and is going to kill her.

Fear of Fear (1975)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder not only directed Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Angst essen Seele auf), but also scripted the film, designed the sets, and produced. Brigitte Mira heads the cast as a lonely German cleaning woman, who enters into an affair with equally lonely--and much, much younger--Moroccan mechanic EL HEDI BEN SALEM. They marry, despite the shocked, bigoted reactions of those around them. This thinly disguised remake of Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows (cult favorite Sirk was one of Fassbinder's personal heroes) won the international critic's prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Effi Briest (1974)
In the nineteenth century, seventeen year old Effi Briest is married to the older Baron von Instetten and moves into a house, that she believes has a ghost, in a small isolated Baltic town. She soon bears a daughter, Annie, and hires the lapsed Catholic Roswitha to look after her. Effi is lonely when her husband is away on business, so she spends time riding and walking along the shore with Major Crampas. Instetten is promoted to Ministerial Councillor and the family moves to Berlin, where Effi enjoys the social life. Six years later, the Baron is given letters from Crampas to Effi that convince him that they had an affair. He feels obliged to challenge Crampas to a duel and banish Effi from the house.

Martha (1974)
Martha is a wealthy and totally self-involved woman -- so much so that on a trip during which her father dies, she does indeed cry, but only because she lost her purse. She marries a stranger who claims not to be at all attracted to her, and their wedding is only the beginning of a battle between them to determine who will get the upper hand over the other. Martha holds her own in this genuinely sado-masochistic relationship, until a tragic accident paralyzes her.

Fear of Fear (1975)
Margot, who lives in a comfortable middle class apartment, fears that she is losing her mind after having had her second child. Her husband Kurt, who is busy studying for an exam, does not understand her situation. Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law Lore are openly hostile to her. She resorts to valium and drink, and looks for sympathy, but to no avail.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 14 February, 2012.

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