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As Good As It Gets

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

A great movie, made in a special way. Not only was it made for TV, it has the style of a soap-opera. Those who have seen it must have noticed that there are a number of "episodes", separated by a gradual darkening of the screen (till completely black, then lightening up again). The acting, the decor and so on are pure soap-opera. Some reviewers have seen a touch or two of Douglas Sirk, but there's more than that to it: when Martha gives her German address in the embassy, the name of the street is "Douglas Sirk"! Pure melodrama, but with great results. Fassbinder gives the movie the necessary pace to portray a convincing tragedy resulting from fatality mixed with individual characteristics. The final words appropriately are "When God takes a step, man cannot change it".

Martha Heyer, a librarian in her thirties (Margit Carstensen), is completely oppressed by her high-strung parents but receives a lot of attention from different men, all of whom she turns down because of her family. After the sudden death of her father (Adrian Hoven) and the suicide attempt of her unstable pill-popping mother (Gisela Fackeldey), she is approached by a handsome engineer named Helmut Salomon (Karlheinz Böhm) and agrees to his marriage proposal. He turns out to be a complete sadist and torments her in various ways, from isolating her from her former life to having her skin burnt in the sun and then roughly having sex with her. Martha doesn't know how to cope with the situation and just takes it all in without knowing how to put her anxiety into words, even though a friendly colleague Mr. Kaiser (Peter Chatel) would be willing to listen. Eventually things escalate dramatically.The film's outlook of marriage is definitely bleak; besides Martha's private hell, the marriages of her friends are also presented as shallow and dishonest. The question of why Martha is so helpless and unable to defend herself against Helmut goes back to her old life with her overbearing parents: even though she shows signs of sarcasm and emotional detachment from them, she ultimately cannot leave their influence behind – the devastating power of upbringing and lifelong submission is one of the main themes of the film.The technical direction of the story is done brilliantly; the long shots with moving cameras and the use of mirrors in the mise-en-scène are all enjoyable to examine throughout. Especially the spinning shot of Martha and Helmut's first encounter in Italy dizzies the mind in a good way and catches the feel of instant attraction well. Nevertheless, however skilfully presented, at almost two hours the parade of emotional cruelty feels a little too long and gets slightly repetitive towards the end. Over all, the development from the Ingmar Bergman-style family hell to the melodramatic last scenes helps to create a memorable and effective story arc for the tale though, and the actors suit their roles fine, especially the mousy, red-haired Carstensen. At the time of writing this review, I have yet to see many Fassbinder films, but Martha has certainly gotten me enthusiastic about seeing more as soon as possible. I eagerly recommend the film to anyone interested in R.W.F.'s work or the nature of oppressive relationships.

Two days ago I have seen this movie. Lead actor Karlheinz Boehm and famous filmmaker Volker Schloendorff were present in the audience, and then discussed it after the screening. This was part of (or spontaneously turned into) a fund-raising effort for the humanitarian organization that K.H. Boehm founded.Boehm said that Fassbinder was an expert or at least naturally gifted in judging people. In the discussion it was also mentioned that in his theater group at that time he had also built a network of dependencies. Boehm was very impressed by a quote from Fassbinder, saying approximately: In general you have to exaggerate something to unleash the full power and achieve maximum artistic effect, however it is important to do it correctly (do not exaggerate too much). Here this principle has been applied to demonstrate the (one-sided) struggle for power and dominance in a marriage. At the beginning the husband is very male, that is outspoken, direct, almost blunt. Martha seems to be in love for quite a while. Later, the requests of the dominant, violent husband become increasingly over the top, so that watching the sadist makes you feel uneasy. The same holds for Marthas friends and relatives which are unable to help or, with the exception of Herr Kaiser, even realize the truth about Marthas personality being gradually ruined. This is criticism of an emotionally degraded society.However, from a aesthetic standpoint, camera and light are marvelous. The set locations (typical for wealthy people) have also been carefully selected and are amazing in their false, pompous colorfulness. In places, there is also quite a bit of black humor mixed in, and at the beginning it seemed like a mystery story (the black guy chasing Martha)or a love story.Aside from that , the movie also reminded me of a 1950s Bergman marriage movie. Worth seeing.

A selfish, immature and hysterical woman is progressively destroyed psychologically by a sadistic husband. In line with other Fassbinder movies, such as die Ehe der Maria Braun, this movie depicts a bourgeoisie only interested in money and keeping up appearances, where love is impossible. Beautifully filmed in particular in a baroque house, the effect of the movie is reinforced by the apparent kindness of the husband and its constant reference to love.