BRD Trilogy - Background and Structure

Background and Structure

Fassbinder had the idea of making a series of films that focus on West Germany during the "economic miracle" of the 1950s. The main characters were all female, representing different people in different circumstances. While the original treatments and stories were developed by Fassbinder himself, the detailed scripts for all three films were written by screenwriter Peter Märthesheimer, who had worked with the director as a commissioning producer and script editor of some of his TV projects, with the help of his then partner Pea Fröhlich.

The films were shot and released in a slightly different order to their accepted numbering. Maria Braun, released in 1979, is the earliest in terms of both production and the chronology of the plot, beginning in 1945. However it only became part of the trilogy retrospectively, when Fassbinder added the caption "BRD 3" to Lola when it was released in 1981. Veronika Voss, released a year later as Fassbinder's penultimate film before his death, included the caption "BRD 2" and is set in a slightly earlier period than Lola. Fassbinder did not intend the series to stop at a trilogy but his plans to make further films in the same mould were cut short by his death.

The trilogy was released in a DVD box set by the Criterion Collection in September 2003.