Martha (1974 film)

Martha is a 1974 drama film made for German television which was directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. It features Margit Carstensen in the title role with Karlheinz Bhm as her abusive husband. It is one of the earliest of Fassbinders films to be influenced by the American work of Douglas Sirk. The plot was loosely based on a short story For the Rest of Her Life by Cornell Woolrich.

Back in her hometown, Constance, Martha is ill received by her mother who blames her for her fathers death. Marthas mother, an alcoholic, takes openly to drinking, tranquilizers and drawing mustaches on old photographs of her deceased husband. Martha turns down an offer of marriage from her boss at the library, who immediately proposes to her colleague Ilse. During the wedding celebration, Martha is formally introduced to Helmut Salomon, a wealthy civil engineer, who was the man she crossed glances leaving the German embassy. On their first conversation Helmut insults her by detailing her physical failings, and Martha meekly accepts these and responds by kissing him.Helmut takes her to an amusement park and insists that they take a ride together on the roller coaster, despite Martha being terrified of the idea. After the ride, she vomits and he proposes marriage. Martha, her face streaked with tears and vomit, thanks him and gleefully accepts. Marthas mother, in a hysterical reaction to the news that her daughter intends to marry, swallows an overdose of pills and collapses to the floor. Helmut takes the opportunity to have Marthas mother institutionalized. ........

Source: Wikipedia