The Marriage of Maria Braun [SEP] film editor
Lorenz on the editing and post-production of "The Marriage of Maria Braun". The failure of "Despair" at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1978 spurred Fassbinder to prepare an answer print overnight and to present the film on 22 May 1978 to German film producers in a private screening. Attended by, among others Horst Wendlandt, Sam Waynberg, Karl Spiehs, Günter Rohrbach and the majority shareholder of the Filmverlag der Autoren, Rudolf Augstein the screening was a success. Eckelkamp invested a further 473,000 DM to pay off
film in "Le Monde" on 19 January 1980 and wrote that the film presents Maria Braun with a "shining simplicity" as an allegory of Germany, "a character, that wears flashy and expensive clothes, but has lost her soul".
Roger Ebert added the film to his Great Movies collection.
Distribution and reception Commercial success and aftermath.
"The Marriage of Maria Braun" was not only a critical, but also a commercial success. From its release until October 1979 more than 400,000 tickets were sold