Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven

1975 [GERMAN]

Action / Drama

3
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 100% · 10 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 88% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 2370 2.4K

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Plot summary

After a worker kills a superior and commits suicide, each of his family members attempts to forge a path forward in life.

Top cast

Karlheinz Böhm as Karl Thälmann
Vitus Zeplichal as Reporter
Peter Chatel as Photograph
Peter Kern as Nachtclubbesitzer
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1.05 GB
986*720
German 2.0
NR
us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 57 min
Seeds 2
1.95 GB
1480*1080
German 2.0
NR
us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 57 min
Seeds 9

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by richardchatten 8 / 10

Mother Küsters Hasn't a Prayer

At first I was anticipating an attack on yellow journalism akin to the same year's 'Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum'; but to me this film - with its title evoking Pudovkin's 'Mother', Piel Jutzi's 'Mutter Krausens Fahrt ins Glück' and of course Brecht's Mother Courage - became more and more abstract and stylised as it progressed.The film's pretty poster-paint colours and Brigitte Mira's depiction of stoicism in the face of adversity considerably soften the impact of what could have been an extremely harsh neorealist tract on the systematic abuse suffered by the downtrodden proletariat; and there are quite a few laughs. Very little actually seems to faze the put-upon Emma Küsters, who after receiving what would have been the shattering news that the circumstances of her late husband's death means the loss of her pension simply continues with equanimity her frugal existence assembling plugs in her dining room. Her treatment by a cynical journalist, well-meaning but ineffectual communists and - finally - violent nihilists suggests Fassbinder's mounting cynicism about the motives and effectiveness of the King Logs and King Storks that he had so far encountered offering solutions to society's ills, the ironic title effectively declaring the chances of the Mother Küsters of this world ever receiving a break in this world being zero.
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Reviewed by Horst_In_Translation 6 / 10

Fassbinder at his most (or least?) radical

"Mutter Küsters' Fahrt zum Himmel" or "Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven" is a West German German-language film from 1975, so this one had its 40th anniversary last year. It runs for slightly under two hours and was written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who was 29 when he made this film, but already very experienced. Co-writer is Kurt Raab, who also acts in here, just like in many other Fassbinder films and the original story is by Heinrich Zille. This story is about a woman who fights for the truth when a dubious newspaper article is released that deals with the death of her husband. Fassbinder presents two entirely different endings to this movie and this contrast is possibly the most interesting aspect of the film. Which reaction is more accurate? The pacifist or the radical? I think Fassbinder's take is clear. The radical solution results in tragedy, also for innocents like Mother Küster and the other solution result in her finding happiness again possibly. There's two kinds of heaven and I quite like the title from this perspective. Just like almost always with Fassbinder, the title contains the name of the (usually female) protagonist and for older characters Fassbinder usually picked Brigitte Mira. I cannot blame him and it's nice to see Mira received a German Film Award nomination for her portrayal here. She is such a likable presence. I probably did not end up liking this one here as much as "Angst essen Seele auf", but it was still a convincing watch that almost never dragged which is a good achievement for a film that runs for almost 2 hours. And Mira alone is reason enough to see this one. One of my preferred films when it comes to Fassbinder. Thumbs up.

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