Warum ist Frau B. glücklich?
Presented by Lou Burkart member of the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum digitization and restoration team
The life of Maria B., the story of a miner’s wife in the Ruhr, encompasses 40 years of working-class life in Germany. Being married, finding a home and becoming a mother seemed to her to be the greatest happiness. When her husband became unemployed, hunger and misery set in. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, work returned and modest prosperity was established. A few years later, her husband showed the first signs of miner’s disease. He could barely earn a living for his family, which soon numbered five. The difficulties persisted, and it was only when Maria B. worked as a cleaner in a miners’ home that she was able to indulge in her first pleasures.
The restorer – La DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum
The DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut und Filmmuseum is one of the leading cinematheques in Germany and, together with the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen and the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, forms the network of German Cinematheques. Since 2013, the DFF has digitised over 300 films to date thanks to funding from the State of Hesse and the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media, and since 2019 with funding from the national film heritage program. The focus is on silent film and early sound film, avant-garde and experimental films, post-war German cinema and New German Cinema. The analogue and digital prints are regularly screened in Europe at international heritage festivals, but also at non-specialist festivals.
Photo credits : Warum ist Frau B. glücklich? © DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum
Erika Runge discovered her interest in social issues through her involvement in student movements. After graduating from university, she continued her political involvement. She conducted interviews which she compiled in her book Bottroper Protokolle. In it we discover frank opinions on working conditions, the image of women, but also on sex and politics. She developed the story of Madame B., one of the protagonists, into a documentary: Warum ist Frau B. glücklich? From then on, Erika Runge was one of the first to use documentaries as a mouthpiece for workers, letting the people themselves testify. In her films, she practices a kind of historical reconstruction ‘from below’, and also incorporates the social experiences of working-class women.
Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)
DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum
Lou Burkart, burkart@dff.film
Sound restoration
Fall 2024
