Mother Kuster's Trip to Heaven (1975)

Essential Viewing

West Germany

Feature Film

Original Title: Mutter Küsters' Fahrt zum Himmel

Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Kurt Raab, Heinrich Zille

Cinematographer: Michael Ballhaus

Composer: Peer Raben

Cast: Brigitte Mira, Ingrid Caven, Margit Carstensen, Karlheinz Böhm, Irm Hermann, Gottfried John, Armin Meier, Matthias Fuchs

When a factory worker kills the head of human resources before taking his own life, his wife – an ordinary, middle-aged, working class woman – finds her tragedy exploited by the sensationalist media, champagne socialists, militant anarchists, and even her own children, in this misanthropic masterpiece from Fassbinder; filled with expressive mise-en-scène, excellent performances, and sourly perceptive social comment. Iain.Stott