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Martha
Martha
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Martha

Martha

1974
Drama, Suspense/Thriller
TV Movie
1h 56m
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... (imdb)

Martha

1974
Drama, Suspense/Thriller
TV Movie
1h 56m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 70.08% from 189 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(192)
Compact view
Compact view
Rated 14 Jan 2009
82
88th
Stark, brutal melodrama about an odd, child-like woman's marriage to a sadist. Fassbinder shreds the genre down to its barest, most hyper stylized level with a sparser use of music and a simpler colour palette than usual, giving its grotesque hysteria an uncomfortable tension.
Rated 10 May 2014
85
88th
a modern vampire story with very conscious visual language
Rated 11 Aug 2015
85
85th
One of Fassbinder's most visually stunning films, if also a bit one-dimensional (not that conventional psychological realism was ever really Fassbinder's thing to begin with) albeit unnervingly effective enough to counteract the simplicity of the characterization. Works as both a comedy and a horror film, as well as both an example of and, in my opinion at least, convincing argument against Fassbinder's alleged misogyny (of course a less morally divisive filmmaker would be far less interesting).
Rated 18 Jul 2014
65
87th
. . . [Full review]
Rated 17 Dec 2010
89
56th
This is my wife's favorite movie.
Rated 08 Sep 2007
85
95th
In one of Fassbinder's most tragic movies, Martha is driven by her Electra complex into a highly abusive marriage. Very Fassbinderian and has an awesome final shot.
Rated 19 Jun 2022
4
55th
faslighting. genres should include 'comedy', it'd be too much for me if it wasn't. just started laughing again reading the top quote on IMDB: Helmut Salomon: [after forcing his wife to read an obscure book on dam technology and listen to his favorite music] See, Martha? Those things can be fun.
Rated 04 Jun 2022
60
35th
This film is oppressive in its unpleasantness. Where's the quaint Douglas Sirk melodrama that I was promised?
Rated 10 Dec 2013
80
69th
Somehow entertaining and incredibly depressing all at once.
Rated 22 Nov 2013
8
80th
At times you almost want to call this a dark comedy, but it's so relentlessly bleak and demented the laughs are few and far between.
Rated 13 Jul 2020
70
57th
Fucking funny, with Lanthimosian moments, but it's hard work for me.
Rated 09 May 2020
90
80th
Viewed May 8, 2020.
Rated 22 Mar 2019
83
95th
https://youtu.be/bPGMMav4Uxw
Rated 17 Mar 2019
79
67th
EINFACH SCHLEIM !! i want fassbinder's mind
Rated 28 Dec 2014
8
72nd
Oof this one punches you in the gut. Karlheinz Böhm is very unnerving.
Rated 05 Jun 2011
36
7th
The worst actors ever (yes, worse than Kristen Stewart), but so many memorable so-bad-it's-good moments! Great if you want to watch a movie and laugh at how stupid it is.
Rated 19 Oct 2010
40
97th
"Easily the most twisted film of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's career, Martha (a favorite of his frequent cinematographer Michael Ballhaus) catalogs the tyrannical hold a bourgeois husband has over his wife." - Ed Gonzalez
Rated 09 Jan 2010
70
38th
Two of the most unlikeable characters in Fassbinder's movies. Makes it hard to enjoy this movie.
Rated 21 Oct 2008
67
28th
Thinking about, works better than really watching the movie. Because, man, that was boring...
Rated 23 Sep 2008
65
21st
Exaggerated. The drama is way over the top.

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