Have usually - but not always - been disappointed by Fassbinder, and plant his work firmly in the overrated category. His unassailable critical rep is such that ordinary film fans/reviewers feel obliged to sycophantically toe the line, even if they don't really like it. The films I've often found to be of the "what the hell is so good about this"? variety. Cases in point: The Marriage of Eva Braun, Berlin Alexanderplatz. Slightly better: The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Effi Brest. The best of what I've seen thus far: Fear Eats the Soul, quite a daring film in its day, perhaps a precursor to politically-correct film-making before it ever became obligatory, hackneyed and ineffective. Likeable nonetheless for its simplicity and accessibility.
Martha then is a familial/marital melodrama, with as its centre the curiously beautiful strawberry blonde Martha and the relationship with her abusive husband, Helmut. It's a sad film but not without humour; visually, a feast, with rich saturated hues throughout, good props and nice trans-European settings (Rome and Konstanz). Surprisingly, this was 'only' a TV movie.
Glad I gave this one the benefit of the doubt. Showing as part of the 'Twisted Cornea' program of the Belfast Film Festival, in the small 'beanbag cinema' venue: an original, low-key cinematic experience, and one of the many natural incidentals which contribute to the city's unassuming cool.
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