The Rainer Werner Fassbinder BRD Trilogy (The Marriage of Maria Braun / Lola / Veronika Voss) (Criterion Collection)

Fassbinder’s three-film examination of life in post-WWII Germany opens with "The Marriage of Maria Braun" (1978), in which a soldier’s widow (Hanna Schygulla) rises to the top of an industrial empire. Next, a cabaret singer/prostitute (Barbara Sukowa) plays a shady contractor (Mario Adorf) and a building commissioner (Armin Mueller-Stahl) against each other for her own gain, in "Lola" (1981). The trilogy concludes with "Veronika Voss" (1982), about a writer, his fiancée, and an aging film star kept in seclusion and hooked on morphine, and the greater scandal that links them all. Rosel Zech and Hilmar Thate star. 5 1/2 hrs. total on three discs. In German with English subtitles. Widescreen; Soundtrack: German Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English; audio commentary; documentary; interviews; theatrical trailers; more. In German with English subtitles.