Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven Fear of Fear

Two incisive takes on the melodrama, with a pair of "hausfrau" in serious trouble of one sort or other. A witty look into the world of cynical journalism and left-wing politics, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven is one of Fassbinder's funniest films, here screened with both its European and American endings. A Frankfurt housewife handles reporters, anarchists, and sausage stew while trying to clear her late husband's name. (1975; 128 mins.)

In Fear of Fear, Fassbinder takes the claustrophobia and emotional trauma of Sirk melodramas to frightening extremes. Margit Cartensen stars as a bourgeoise housewife consumed by anxiety and addiction after becoming pregnant with her second child. Praising the film's hallucinatory power, the New York Time's Vincent Canby called it "perfectly sculpted...a distillation of reality--a dream in which everything counts." (1975; 88 mins.)