Martha
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Year Released: 1974
Rating: 2.0
Title character runs from bad relationship to another - from controlling father to pill-popping mother to abusive husband - and descends into continuous 'misery.' The argument that she allows herself to go through this punishment and therefore deserves whatever comes to her - the 'blame the victim' slant - makes sense when compared to Fassbinder's entire career and common themes, but the idea of watching a woman suffer for two hours isn't exactly the most appealing. If this were shown on daytime TV and in English, soap-opera fanatics would lap it up; Fassbinder, like Sirk and Tennessee Williams, relishes showing his heroines in perpetual distress and men at their most barbaric.
