Margarethe Von Trotta
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
Perhaps the best known female director to emerge from the New German Cinema, Von Trotta began her career as a stage actress and, in the late 1960s, appeared in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlondorff (she married the latter in 1971). She then co-scripted (and narrated) Schlondorff's "The Sudden Wealth of the Poor People of Kombach" (1971), turned in a precise, riveting performance in the lead role of "Coup de Grace" (1974) and co-directed "The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum" (1975) with her husband. Von Trotta made an impressive solo directing debut with "The Re-awakening of Christa Klages" (1977). The film introduces many of the themes that recur in her later work: the complexities of female bonding; the dimensions and dilemmas of liberalism; and the uses and effects of violence.
"Sisters, or the Balance of Happiness" (1979) is an intricate examination of the relationship between a destructive, confused Hamburg secretary and her two "sisters"--one by birth and one whom she "adopts"; "Marianne and Julianne/The German Sisters" (1981) is a compelling study of terrorism, viewed via the relationship between a Baader Meinhof activist and her journalist sister (the two are based on the real-life characters, Gudrun and Christiane Ensslin). "Rosa Luxemburg" is an accomplished, multi-leveled biography of the early 20th-century radical.
Von Trotta's "The Promise" (1995) was an episodic drama about a pair of lovers separated and reunited against major events in European history (the erection of the Berlin Wall, the 1968 Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia). While it was a departure for the director, most critics felt it was a qualified success.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1968
First film acting role in "Schrage Vogel"
1975
First film as co-director, "Die verlorene Ehre der Katherina Blum/The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum"
Family
Companions
