World Melodrama Film Series Presents: Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven (1975)

[the one some of you have been waiting for, whether or not you knew it]


Everybody is out for something. 
Once you realize that, everything is much simpler.

Arguably one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's least clinical and cold films, Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven details what happens to Emma Küsters (Brigitte Mira) after her chemical factory-worker husband kills his boss and then himself.  The fact that the movie starts with this traumatic event makes this something of a spiritual sequel of sorts to Fassbinder's Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (1970), though Mother Küsters ends up using this murder-suicide as a starting-off point from which to score various political positions in the Federal Republic of Germany, from the right to the left.  Business, family, and journalism also come in for almost caricatural drubbings as everyone tries to milk Frau Küsters' tragedy for all it is worth.  As ever, not to be missed.

Tuesday, May 24th
Stevenson 150, 8 PM

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