'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria

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the train wheels moving rapidly over the tracks. At the very end of Lene‟s retelling, a close-up shot focuses on Lene‟s face, hand, and wedding ring. Lene coughs and covers her hand with her mouth so that her golden ring is shown in the center of the frame. Next, she leans over to Anna and kisses her daughter lovingly on the forehead. In the fairy tale, the ring becomes proof of a suppressed macabre reality, the robber‟s brutal slaying of the murdered bride and untold numbers of other young women. If we understand the ring as a symbol of a dark suppressed history in the fairy tale, then it is significant that two conspicuous images of Lene‟s golden wedding band are shown at the end of the fairy tale sequence in which the Holocaust is evoked. From my perspective, Sanders-Brahms juxtaposes visual images of Lene‟s golden wedding band with the tale‟s symbol of the gold ring (and severed finger) as evidence of a horrendous crime in order to indicate that in her film the whole fairy tale segment acts as a narrative locus for the repressed history of the Holocaust. Sanders-Brahms does not remain silent about the Holocaust but instead evokes it in an indirect way through the synergistic use of visual images and plot details of the tale. She uses the image of the ring immediately after her evocation of the Holocaust to indicate to the viewer that she has not forgotten to represent the Holocaust, but instead has chosen to depict it as repressed history. In my opinion, Sanders-Brahms‟ representation of the Holocaust as a buried and unspoken history is particularly effective and historically apt if one considers the tendency in post- war German society to repress and conceal the painful and guilt-producing memory of the Nazi genocide of German Jews and other victims. The motif of „producing the finger and ring‟ or of supplying physical evidence can not only be applied to Sanders-Brahms‟ use of the documentary footage and 131
evocation of the Holocaust through the fairy tale segment, but can also be applied to the creation of the film itself. This connection between the image of the ring and tangible proof of one‟s story is evident in the last scene of the film. In the concluding scene, Lene pushes her daughter away from her, locks herself in the bathroom and attempts suicide by turning on the gas from the water heater. Unable to see or hear her mother, Anna pounds on the door repeatedly and begs Lene to open the door and to come out. The camera lingers on the back of Anna‟s head in a close-up shot, which has the effect of strengthening viewer identification with the child. Lene finally does emerge from the bathroom, presses Anna‟s head into her stomach, and strokes the child‟s hair. This shot is from the perspective of someone of Anna‟s height who is standing behind the child and therefore the frame only captures Lene‟s midsection, arms and hands and Anna‟s head. As Lene moves her hand up and down, her golden wedding band is highlighted. The voice-over of the adult filmmaker explains, “Es dauerte sehr lange, bis Lene die Tür aufmachte, und manchmal denke ich, sie ist immer noch dahinter, und ich bin immer noch davor, und sie kommt nie mehr heraus zu mir, und ich muss erwachsen sein und allein. Aber sie ist immer noch da. Lene ist immer noch da” (Sanders-Brahms, Film- Erzählung 113-14). 98 At this point, the camera pans up Lene‟s body and a close-up shot on her face shows that her eyes are glossy with tears. After a few seconds, Lene slowly looks down at her daughter and the camera glides back down to focus again on Lene‟s hands stroking Anna‟s head. In the last shot of the film, Lene‟s golden ring is centered in the frame and it glimmers with her hand movements. Finally, she moves her hand downwards into the darkness and the screen fades to black. It is replaced by a blue 98 “It took a long time for Lene to open the door. Sometimes I think she is still behind the door, and I‟m still standing in front of it and she‟ll never come out and I have to be grown up and alone. But she is still here. Lene is still here” (Sanders-Brahms, Film-Erzählung 113-14). 132
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Storytelling and Survival in the
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Supervisory Committee Dr. Helga Tho
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3.1 Intergenerational Dialogue in D
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I would like to dedicate this thesi
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Sanders-Brahms describes a phenomen
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that Sanders-Brahms uses the fairy
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early 1980s by a wave of historical
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Deutschland, bleiche Mutter. Moreov
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audience. One of the most popular g
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1.1 The Oberhausen Manifesto and Ne
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audiences. This film movement of th
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e beholden to him, for only through
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political events that took place in
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Verdrängten eigentlich gar nicht g
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(Deutschland im Herbst n. pag.). 14
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in drei Jahrzehnten Nachkriegsgesch
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impact West Germans in such a drama
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If German films are to make use of
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1.4 Deutschland, bleiche Mutter as
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story must be hidden as much as pos
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Chapter 2: New Subjectivity and Wes
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Reich” opposes fascism, but who e
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direct and personal confrontation w
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context has only become part of the
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perpetrators are defined predominan
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Thus, Sanders-Brahms creates a coun
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In the birth sequence, Sanders-Brah
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ombs fall downward from the upper r
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narrator‟s sadness at the destruc
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essentialize men or women‟s exper
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image visually separates the runnin
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emotional connection between mother
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endurance and stoic acceptance of b
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texture which is both social and hi
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ombings terrorized civilian populat
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y war. A final interesting point of
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Maikäfer flieg. dein Vater ist im
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Why does Lene sing the Maikäferlie
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Beginning with the so-called recons
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elationship. Through its subjective
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a series of forty-one volumes publi
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3.1 Intergenerational Dialogue in D
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geworden” (Brecht, Werke 253). 55
Page 87 and 88: Eure Unarmung kann ich mir nicht de
Page 89 and 90: 3.2 Retelling a Grimm Tale: Voice a
Page 91 and 92: and springs into the lap of the hid
Page 93 and 94: apes were collectively perceived as
Page 95 and 96: 3.4 “Der Räuberbräutigam,” Po
Page 97 and 98: with its ironic “Arbeit macht fre
Page 99 and 100: Further, the absence or presence at
Page 101 and 102: can imagine the chimney blowing out
Page 103 and 104: Chapter 4: Three Images of Woman in
Page 105 and 106: Moreover she demonstrates insight a
Page 107 and 108: victimization of another through he
Page 109 and 110: in an effort to help, Lene quickly
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Page 113 and 114: knowingly or unknowingly, to make p
Page 115 and 116: passively complicit in the crimes o
Page 117 and 118: Contrastingly, in the middle and la
Page 119 and 120: traditional gender roles and emphas
Page 121 and 122: The old woman‟s constructive fema
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Page 125 and 126: and calm camera movements. In contr
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Page 129 and 130: 4.4 Summarizing Remarks Sanders-Bra
Page 131 and 132: Chapter 5: Conclusion Mother’s Vo
Page 133 and 134: forced back into the oppressive dep
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Page 137: authentic documentary footage of th
Page 141 and 142: Brahms articulates represents an ac
Page 143 and 144: H.S.-B.: Well, one answer to this q
Page 145 and 146: H.S.-B.: There is a very small baby
Page 147 and 148: only when you forget about scientif
Page 149 and 150: R.R.: So an example of that would b
Page 151 and 152: political context of the fictional
Page 153 and 154: was a wonderful image, like the May
Page 155 and 156: H.S.-B.: Yes, you‟re right, it‟
Page 157 and 158: R.R.: Some critics say that she is
Page 159 and 160: They just appeared during shooting.
Page 161 and 162: film represent the woman who respon
Page 163 and 164: R.R.: So, by telling your story, yo
Page 165 and 166: H.S.-B.: This happened to my mother
Page 167 and 168: irritated the critics terribly. It
Page 169 and 170: opening up, but actually, the strug
Page 171 and 172: ---. Brecht on Theater. Ed. and Tra
Page 173 and 174: Herbst, Philip. Wimmin, Wimps and W
Page 175 and 176: ---. “Gender, Film, and German Hi
Page 177: Sander, Helke and Barbara Johr. Eds
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'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria

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