Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven | Mutter Küsters Fahrt zum Himmel (1975)

Synopsis

Frau Kusters is preparing dinner late one seemingly ordinary afternoon in her seemingly ordinary kitchen in Frankfurt, Germany. Mrs. Kusters wants to add canned sausages to the stew, her annoying daughter-in-law thinks otherwise.

The point, we soon find out, is moot: Mr. Kusters has murdered the personnel director at the soap factory where he works before committing suicide. -- IMDb

Cast: Brigitte Mira, Ingrid Caven, Margit Carstensen, Karlheinz Böhm, Irm Hermann, Gottfried John, Peter Kern, Kurt Raab, Gustav Holzapfel, Y Sa Lo


The film was shot over 20 days between February and March 1975 in Frankfurt am Main. The film drew on both Douglas Sirk-style melodramas and Weimar era workers' films to tell a political coming of age story.

Fassbinder's film criticizes the bloodthirst of the 1970s German media in a similar manner to The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (directed by Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta).

However, Fassbinder's film goes further by criticizing the overwhelming selfishness present in contemporary society. Nearly everyone who Mother Küsters encounters is self-serving and unconcerned with comforting her. Fassbinder also clearly criticizes the small German Communist Party's moderation and "armchair activism". --Wiki

Read about this film

Country: Germany
Language: German
Color: Color
Runtime: 120 min.