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Or: Many People Who Are Aware of Their Own Capabilities and Needs Just Acquiesce to the Prevailing System in Their Thoughts and Deeds, Thereby Confirm and Reinforce It.

Fassbinder initially wanted to adapt Theodor Fontane's realist classic Effi Briest as his first feature, but having limited technical skills and funds he would not begin production on it until three years later. Fassbinder would invest more time in Effi Briest than any of his other features, filming for 58 days over two years, when a typical Fassbinder shoot rarely lasted more than 20 days and sometimes barely a week. Fassbinder's inclusion of Fontane in the original title is indicative of how faithful he remains to his source material: dialogue, title cards, and narration (provided by Fassbinder himself) are lifted directly from Fontane's novel. In repressive Bismarck Germany, Effi (Hanna Schygulla) becomes a teenage bride when her mother (played by Fassbinder's own mother, Lilo Pempeit) marries her off for social standing to a diplomat twice her age. Though well-intentioned, Effi finds her new husband incapable of offering her real love. Stifled by her passionless union, Effi seeks comfort in the arms of a charming, married army major. But in breaking the rigid codes of her society, Effi sets herself on a tragic path.

M | Mature themes