5. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
The film begins during an Allied bombing raid in 1943 Germany. Maria is marrying a soldier called Hermann who has shortly to return to the Front. After the war, Maria is told that Hermann was killed. She takes a waitress job at a bar that American GIs attend and falls in love with an African American soldier called Bill, who impregnates her. Not dead as originally thought, Hermann comes home and finds his wife in bed with Bill. He starts a fight with Bill. In the melee Bill gets bonked over the head by a bottle from Maria and dies. Hermann loves Maria so much, he takes the murder rap for her and goes to Jail. Maria has an abortion and then runs into a wealthy businessman called Karl, who gives her a job - working as his assistant. She eventually becomes Karl's mistress and she visits Hermann to tell him this in jail. That she is doing this to secure their future. Karl makes his own visit to Hermann and promises him his fortune when he dies if Hermann will desert Maria after his release. Maria does not get to hear about this. Whenever he is released, Hermann hightails it to Canada but sends a rose to Maria every month declaring his undying love for her. Eventually Karl croaks it and Hermann comes straight back to Germany and Maria. Maria learns of the agreement between the two men and upset, lights a cigarette. Unfortunately she left the gas on and is blown to bits when the house explodes. So a delightfully gloomy ending to Rainer Werner Fassbinder's epic depression-fest. I was going to go with The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, also by Fassbinder. But given the scale of that film's gloominess, I didn't want to spark a mass wrist slashing episode among readers of the list because I think that there is enough melancholic material on it. Fassbinder does a terrific job of portraying the chaotic and uncertain post-World War Two situation in Germany. Poor Maria and Hermann go through hell in their relationship. They are fiercely in love, but that love is continually thwarted by bad luck. The tragedy of Maria's death, after she tried so hard to make a good life for herself from the rubble of the war, is very hard to witness. Hannah Schuygulla is mesmerising as Maria and it is her strong performance that makes Maria a likeable and admirable heroine who doesn't deserve her gloomy fate. An excellent film for fans of serious, world class drama.