World Cup TK:
FIFA and Fassbinder
15 July 2014
¶ In an LRB blog entry, Ian Penman writes endearingly about the late filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s passion for football, and how it worked its way into The Marriage of Maria Braun.
When it came to mind this week, I had to consult an old filmography to clarify its baldly melodramatic plot. I could recall nothing concrete about it whatsoever – except for one small crucial detail. In the climactic scene, the soundtrack is provided by a radio broadcast of an excitedly jabbering football commentator. If you were German, it would have been obvious which commentary, which game, and why Fassbinder chose it.
We’ve already called the Video Room.