Marianne and Juliane 2
Die bleierne Zeit is one of Margarethe von Trotta’s best-known films. She had the idea for this film as she finished working on Schwestern oder Die Balance des Glücks (1979). Both films are about sisters who depend on each other but feel a tremendous distance between them. Jutta Lampe plays a starring role in both films, emphasizing that sisterhood is an important part of the story that von Trotta wants to convey.
One of the most interesting aspects about Die bleierne Zeit, in this context, is the interpersonal psychology of the sisters regarding their personal politics and political activism. Many political activists wonder what motivates one to dedicate their lives to political causes. The answers in this film are not perfectly clear or universally applicable, but are very interesting nonetheless.
Marianne and Juliane change roles in adulthood. Although, as a child Juliane seems like the one who would grow up to be a radical feminist, she takes the more conservative road toward women’s rights and regularly disapproves of her sister’s radical approaches. There is a tenderness between the two sisters and both their hearts are in a very similar place.
See also
Beckman, Karen. “Terrorism, Feminism, Sisters, and Twins: Building Relations in the Wake of the World Trade Center Attacks.” Grey Room 7 (Spring 2002): 24-39. Available online
Homewood, Chris. “Von Trotta's The German Sisters and Petzold's The State I Am In: discursive boundaries in the films of the New German Cinema to the present day.” Studies in European Cinema 2.2 (September 2005): 93-102.
Linville, Susan E. “Retrieving History: Margarethe von Trotta's Marianne and Juliane.” PMLA 106.3 (May, 1991): 446-458.
Preece, J. “Between Identification and Documentation, ‘Autofiction’ and ‘Biopic’: The Lives of the RAF.” German Life and Letters 56.4 (October 2003): 363-376.
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