My Sister Maria

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• 58   Metascore
• 2002
• 1 hr 30 mins
• Documentary, Drama

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Maria Schell: a glamorous name, a dream career, a tragic fate. Her career represents a fascinating chapter in German and international film history with compelling episodes and encounters with famous artist colleagues. Memories of global successes become faint: DIE RATTEN (THE RATS), WEISSE NÄCHTE (WHITE NIGHTS), DIE BRÜDER KARAMASOW (THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV). And then later the all too familiar pattern: The difficulties when a star used to success is forced to find a new role, when offers fail to materialize and the public's interest wanes; how does that often sought euphemism go: «with her [...] things have been somewhat quieter recently». Then the breakdown in her private life, calls for help, alarm signals. «The first death»: that's what Maria Schell calls her act of desperation from 1991. MY SISTER MARIA is meant to take inspiration from his famous Oscar-nominated documentary film MARLENE. A remarkable portrait of Marlene Dietrich, who allowed him to interview her with audio tape recordings but no cameras, not even photos; a fascinating effort, to still manage to depict a portrait of the artist in pictures. Maximilian Schell will work with feature film elements as well as documentary material and archive footage that are woven together like a collage. An important narrative level in the film is Maria Schell's life today, her sensitivities, the sphere of her life as she has gotten older, rich with references and associative potential reaching back to her rich life as an artist. Life on the alpine pasture in Kärnten, the familial clan, the interaction with her brother Maximilian: these offer the material for narrative and conflict that makes MY SISTER MARIA such an engaging cinema documentary.