Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven Movie Review

This successful West German effort by Rainer Werner Fassbinder focuses on the title character, played by Brigitte Mira. Mother Küsters is a woman who finds herself drawn into politics after her husband's suicide; she acquires our sympathy slowly, but relentlessly. At first, she appears to be a woman unfairly hanging on to her grown children and her memories. Gradually, however, her awareness of the world grows with her knowledge of herself. Her speech before the members of a political group who exploit her husband's story for their own purposes provides the film with its most moving moments. Fassbinder and Mira brilliantly show us Mother Küsters’ growth with sensitive compassion for both her position and her predicament. A bonus is the presence of Karl Boehm, better known for his work in Unnatural, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, and Peeping Tom. Boehm also worked with Fassbinder on Fox and His Friends. AKA: Mutter Küsters Fahrt Zum Himmel.

1976 108m/C GE Brigitte Mira, Ingrid Caven, Armin Meier, Irm Hermann, Gottfried John, Margit Carstensen, Karl-Heinz Boehm; D: Rainer Werner Fassbinder; W: Rainer Werner Fassbinder; C: Michael Ballhaus. VHS