Minutes of the Symposium After Viewing Fassbender's "Marriage of Maria Braun"

Fassbender's work "Maria Braun's Marriage" Post-View Symposium Minutes
/ Arranged by Fan Daming /

Time: 15:55-16:21 pm, December 4, 2015 (Friday)
Venue: No. 202, Nanshan Road, Hangzhou The lecture hall on the ground floor of Lu Art Museum
(the scene after the viewing of Fassbender's "Marriage of Maria Braun" in Henglu Art Film Bar)

Participants: (Preface) Fan Daming, Jin Aiwu, Guo Yicheng, Wang Qulin, Ma Yile, Zhuang Pingping, Chi Yunfei, Sun Fengfeng, Liu Haiqing, Chen Hua (Viewers: Yao Xiaofeng, Zhang Zhenghui, Fan Dayin, Ding Yunzhen, Hao Yuxia, Sun Jianjun, Ni Yunxia, ​​Wan Bangyan, Wang Yuefang, Weng Xiliang, Zhou Hongze, Zhu Songfa, Xu Yong, Ji Boqing , Zhang Yusu, Zhang Hangou, Jiang Xizhen, Zhu Jianyun, Jiang Tianhong, Zhu Ming, etc.)
Moderator: Fan Daming
Record: Liu Haiqing










This film is considered to be Fassbender's best and most mature film. The ending of the film is an accident, an accident
Van Damien: "Maria Braun's Marriage" is considered to be Fassbender's best and most mature film. Among the 41 films he shot, only this one, he did not serve as a screenwriter. The characters created by the film are advanced layer by layer and have rich personalities; the storyline is interlinked; the scenes are open and have different sides. This is a movie that took a lot of effort to make. The ending of the film is that the protagonist Maria and her returning husband are killed in a gas explosion. It was an accident, an accident, because Maria had the habit of lighting cigarettes from the gas stove, and she forgot to turn off the switch. I'll talk about this first, and we'll talk about it later.

The film shows Maria's complex personality in many ways. The film is very good, it is a good film
Jin Aiwu: This ending is indeed a bit unexpected. The romance of the heroine Maria is the distinctive feature of this film. She is forced to have her first lover, Bill, after learning of her husband's death in battle. Her husband Herman returns unexpectedly, she accidentally kills Bill, Herman takes his place in jail, and she has a second lover, a textile factory owner. The latter is very real, and also went to the prison to visit Maria's husband, because she wanted to understand why Maria was guarding her husband. After learning the truth, the boss left a will on his deathbed, leaving his property to her and her husband respectively. The boss was very friendly with Maria throughout, which was an ideal ending. But Maria is romantic but also realistic. In the war years, she was a little cynical in order to survive, but she was not mean, calculated, or vicious, so everyone liked her. She is open-minded, cheerful, kind, pure, and, of course, has a cunning or particularly intelligent side. It wasn't easy for her to come here. In the end there is tragedy. The director did a good job of portraying this character. For example, she was kind to her sister, and persuaded her brother-in-law to treat her sister well. The film shows her complex personality in many ways. It's a good movie, it's a good movie.




From the prologue, the film strictly adheres to the political and historical background of Germany, and makes a fuss about the word "marriage"
Guo Yicheng: I'm sorry, I fell asleep in the middle. Similar, both explosions, flames. The film begins by highlighting the atmosphere of the war years.
Fan Daming: This opening is a prelude. From the prologue, the film strictly adheres to the political and historical background of Germany, and makes a fuss about the word "marriage". The prologue begins with a portrait of Hitler, which falls to the ground in the sound of explosions; and the legal relationship of Maria's "marriage" - having the witnesses sign and stamp the marriage certificate - is also carried out in this explosion and gunpowder. The starting point of Maria's "marriage" undoubtedly cast an ominous shadow over her entire married life in the future, and also heralded the tragic ending of the party's death in the explosion at the end of the film and the "marriage" ending in destruction. It is said that when the director was shooting the prologue, he thought that the explosion effect was ineffective at first, and he increased the explosion force several times, and the camera was also shaken. We may not have noticed that the prologue followed the explosion with the continuous cry of a baby, a treatment said to suggest the director's own birth (born in 1945). The whole film is about Germany from 1945 to 1954, from the eve of the end of World War II to the miraculous economic rise of Germany (West Germany) in the early 1950s after the war, and the radio broadcast at the end of the film explains that West Germany's 3-2 victory over Hungary's World Cup match should be is a symbol of this rise. Some of the photographic negatives that appear at the end of the film are portraits of successive West German prime ministers after the war, from Adenauer, Erhard, Kissinger to Schmidt. This also sets off the political and historical background of the film, and echoes the portrait of Hitler at the beginning.

The film shows the complexity of human emotions and personalities. The director is indeed a big hand, a master, portraying the characters into the wood three points
Wang Kunlin: This is my first time here. Compared with the situation of foreign nations, I think our nation is still sad in many areas. For example, in 2001, Japan said that there will be Nobel Prize winners every year, which sounds arrogant, but people have won awards in different fields over the years, and they have done it. Watching this film, as the young man just said, it is indeed an explosion at the beginning and the end, echoing back and forth, unique ingenuity, and deeply shocking and moving. In the film itself, the heroine Maria is more open, and there are many sexual scenes, but we don't think it is indecent. She went to the cell to see her husband every week, which showed that she was very affectionate; she was also very honest, and she told her husband who she slept with and why. Today, in our society, the estrangement between people is too great, there is no mutual trust, there is surveillance everywhere, or they do not communicate with each other. The film shows the complexity of human emotions and personalities. The director is indeed a big hand, a master, and he portrays the characters deeply.




It was natural for Maria to come together with the big boss of the textile factory. The film shows that the boss is more upright
, Ma Yile: This is a story that started around the end of World War II. Maria and Herman have a good relationship. Maria is lonely when she can't wait for him. Later, she met Oswald, a big owner of a textile factory. He appreciated her and hired her, and she subdued the American supplier in a few words. She was indeed capable. Because of her arrival, the company has also changed a lot and revitalized. Of course the boss liked her, and it was natural for them to come together. The film shows that the boss is more honest.
Van Damien: The film's depiction of Oswald, the textile factory owner, and his eventual hiring of Maria as the company's white-collar executive are part of the film's context for West Germany's post-war economic take-off.

Maria does not sully her personality even if she is someone else's lover. She still has a bottom line.
Jin Aiwu, who is not out of the ordinary: this textile factory owner is graceful and mature. In fact, Maria has paid a lot for love, and she also bears the pressure of her family's life. She is very accommodating. These behaviors are normal. Therefore, I think that even if she is someone else's lover, it will not tarnish her personality. for objective reasons. In that environment, she still grows and progresses. She herself said that social progress is too slow to keep up with her understanding. She still has a bottom line as a person, not out of line.
Ma Yile: The director expressed a sentence: Love is a precious thing. True love has no deception, it is pure, not utilitarian.

Our evaluation of the behavior of the protagonist of the film should be examined more from the historical background of Germany as a defeated country in World War II
Fan Daming: Actually, the black American officer was killed by Maria, but her husband went to jail on her behalf, so she was both ashamed and grateful to her husband in prison. In order to live, she can be the lover of the French boss Oswald, but cannot officially marry him. It should be said that this bottom line has always existed in her mind; although it seems fragile. I think that our evaluation of the behavior of Maria, the protagonist of the film, and the behavior of many characters around it should be examined more from the historical background of Germany as a defeated country in World War II. Germany has experienced such an unforgettable history as the Third Reich, such a big change from the arrogance of the nation to the inferiority of the nation, and the historical shadow left by the failed war. to reveal and provide people with positive reflection.



In the end, this accident was destined to happen. The ending given in the film is the best ending
. Zhuang Pingping: In the end, this accident is destined to happen. Maria and her husband have been through so much that their social hierarchy and relationship have actually changed. Maria herself said that in fact, we only spent half a day and one night as a husband and wife. The husband finally returned. The two want to live together, but they will definitely not be happy. The daily trivial firewood, rice, oil and salt will definitely destroy this relationship. So this ending given by the film, I think it is the best ending.
Jin Aiwu: When they met again, it was actually strange.

There are very wonderful characters in the final couple reunion scene. Maria looks lost and the tragedy happens
Fan Daming: In the last scene of the couple's reunion, there are very wonderful characters. Maria was wearing only her underwear at first, then her coat. Because the husband in front of him is actually just the husband in his conception, and has no real basis for a real emotional life. Because of the marriage contract, rationally, she thought that person was her husband, but emotionally, she felt that he was an outsider, a stranger. She walked around the room to show that she had finally welcomed her husband back home, and wanted to live a married life with him immediately, but this was just telling her to do that out of reason, not really sincere and issued. If she were a hypocrite, she might have acted like a good, devoted wife, but she couldn't, because she was essentially a hypocrite. It is in such a panic of right and left that she turns on the gas stove in the kitchen to light a cigarette and has a problem: the film highlights that she blew out the open fire with her mouth, not with a switch. This shows that her husband's sudden return, including the reading of her boss Oswald's will, and the reaction of the actual content of the will to her and her husband, have confused her thinking. Maria looked lost. It can be seen that in her accidental mistakes, there is something inevitable, that kind of fate. Tragedy thus occurred and was unstoppable.

Maria is selfish, greedy, and cold; there is no particularly touching relationship between her and Herman
Chen Hua (written talk): After watching the movie, I understand why the movie is called "Maria Braun's Marriage". It refers to marriage, not love or anything else related to affection. Although everything Maria does seems to be for Herman, the whole story makes people have the illusion that Maria always has Herman in her heart and is concerned about Herman, but there are no words from the beginning to the end of the whole film. Just a word about the feelings and love between Maria and Herman. Herman is just her husband for "half a day and a night", not even an ordinary husband in an ordinary family. There is no special touching between them. Feelings. As for Maria's desperate efforts to make money later, it was only for her inner debt. After all, Herman went to prison for her crime. She has no love for Herman as much as Bill etc., it's just marriage sex. Even though she told Oswald that she couldn't marry him and could only be a lover, it seemed that it was also for Herman. Secondly, Maria is an extremely selfish and ruthless woman. When she knew Herman couldn't come back, in order to maintain the most basic life, she chose Bill - which was understandable in the circumstances at the time. When Herman and Bill were fighting, Maria killed Bill without hesitation; if she loved Herman deeply, she should defend Herman in court and even restore the truth, but she didn't, And Herman confessed to murder, why? Because Herman really loves Maria. Herman was just a husband in the marriage contract to Maria. On the other hand, Maria was just taking advantage of men, she didn't understand what men like Oswald and Herman really needed. They both love Maria, and although one event after another made O and He both see through Maria's selfishness and greed, they are grateful: Oswald thanked Maria for giving him joy and happiness at the end of his life. Happiness, willing to leave half of the property to Maria; Oswald understood the reason why Herman was in prison (in fact, he saw Maria better), so he helped Herman get out of prison early and left half of the property to Maria Herman. In the end, when Herman appeared in front of Maria, she did not have the warm embrace of surprise and common sense, but repeatedly avoided Herman's request. Herman doesn't need the money, the house, etc. that she gets from her beauty and her surging desires, so he says to give everything he has to Maria, as if Maria also said "I give everything to you" - here , I think she wants to get rid of Herman in order to fight for more property and higher rights and status. The last few episodes of the film are wonderful, showing Maria's selfishness, greed, and ruthlessness vividly.

Maria is brave and not hypocritical; we don't need to accuse her of anything, nor morally condemn her
Chi Yunfei: I think from the beginning to the end, the heroine Maria only loves her husband. She doesn't have a father, her family relationship is okay, and her work ability is okay, so we don't need to accuse her of anything, and we don't need to condemn her morally.
Sun Fengfeng: She is very brave. Don't be afraid of people's comments, don't be hypocritical.

Fassbender's "Maria Braun's Marriage" Post-View Symposium: Sun Fengfeng speaks

Fassbender's "Maria Braun's Marriage" Post-View Symposium: Liu Haiqing speaks

There was an agreement between Oswald and Herman; Maria did her best for her husband's release from prison
: If the boss Oswald went to see her husband in the cell and there was no deal, Then he is indeed a very real person, and finally gave the property to these two people in his will.
Van Damien: At the end of the film, a man and a woman came to Maria's house to read Oswald's will to her. According to the content of the will, Oswald went to Crosshove on June 14, 1951. The prison visited Herman, and the two had an agreement. I think it doesn't matter whether this agreement is in text or not, or whether it is notarized and legally binding, it can actually be a gentleman's agreement. The film does not show the specific content of this agreement, but it should be conceivable that there is obviously a transactional relationship, that is: Oswald tried to clear the relationship and let Herman be released from prison early; Before prison, he agreed that his wife Maria could be Oswald's lover. The former is Hermann's income; the latter is Oswald's income. But in this agreement, there is obviously no provision for half of Herman's estate, because this agreement is not equivalent to Oswald's personal will. Although before this will, Maria had actually become Oswald's lover in order to live, but the agreement itself was only a matter between two men. You could say that Maria became a doll for two men, but Maria herself was not at fault in it. In the film, we also see that in order to restore Herman's freedom as soon as possible, Maria had met alone with Dr. Klaus, the lawyer in Herman's case. Maria promised the lawyer that money was not a problem. Obviously, Maria did her best to get her husband out of prison.

December 9-10, 2015
Organizer's Note: This summary is the 107th summary of the discussion since the establishment of Hangzhou Henglu Art Film Bar.

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