5 Photos and 4 Comments on Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven
*This was my first Fassbinder film so maybe I just need to get used to his style but this movie did not resonate with me. Reading about Fassbinder online, it seems that all his films tend to be "cold to the touch." I certainly found that to be true. However, it's not a style that I mind. Yorgos Lathimos sometimes comes across that way and I love his films. But here I didn't like any of the characters and did not care at all about what happened to them. That seems like a problem.
*Positive reviews make much about the politics. It was seen as a witty comedy about the faults of the both the right and the left. I guess...maybe we are just pretty far removed from the politics of West German in the mid-70s. But I found the political commentary here awfully heavy-handed and rather predictable. Having just seen the brilliant hostage film Dog Day Afternoon two nights before, the hostage scene here suffered in comparison.
*Personally I did not feel that Bridgette Mira, the actress playing Mother Kusters, could hold the screen for the length of time she needs to. There are a couple scenes late in the film (the one where she gets mad at the communist couple, in particular) that come off as extremely awkward.
*However, happy to get back on the horse with Fassbinder as he had 2 films in 1975 that made the cut --- and Fox and His Friends will be upcoming.
*Best Bit of IMDB Trivia: "There are two endings to the film. In one, Mutter Küsters and anarchists visit newspaper head office to demand the retraction of the article about Mr Küsters. When the editor rejects them, anarchist leader takes out his gun, declares everyone hostage, and demand all political prisoners to be freed, very much to Mutter Küsters' surprise. The journalist who wrote the article, Niemeyer, is phoned, while he is hanging out with Küsters' daughter, Corinna (See the first b&w image on the IMDB page). The rest of the scene is in transcript, where they leave the office, surrounded by police, and Küsters' son run towards him, calling her 'Mom! Mom!'. She walks towards his son. In the other ending [US version], Küsters and anarchists visit the journalist in his office. They sit on the floor to protest. Office staff leaves work. When anarchist leader can't convince Mutter Küsters to take drastic action, they leave her, sitting in the office alone. Corinna talks to her mom, saying nowhere cares, and that she is being ridiculous. Corinna exits. Enter an old widow, the caretaker of the office, who convinces Mutter Küsters to have dinner with him, and discuss the article, which he finds to be a pack of lies too. He picks her up, and they leave the office together."
*Contrary Opinion: Dennis Schwartz writes: "The provocative filmmaker manages to show worker exploitation on the left while still hitting hard at the right." Again the political commentary here seemed decidedly unsubtle to me and did not seem to say anything profound about the left or the right. They were both just trying to use Mother Kusters, as would be expected in such a situation. There was a great deal made about whether either side was going to "help" her but the help that she seemed to want was friends or company, which just seemed like an odd thing for a political party to be expected to provide.
*Laugh Out Loud Funny: Sadly, while I kind of understood what they were going for, I really didn't find the film very funny. The thing about everyone pitching in to build the little devices (clocks?, alarms?) at the kitchen table was cute.
My Grade: C+
Strong Award Contenders: I do not have any
Again, my first time with this director so I'd love to hear a passioned defense of the film.
