"Bremer Freiheit: Frau Geesche Gottfried - Ein bürgerliches Trauerspiel" or "Bremer Freiheit" or "Bremen Coffee" is a West German movie from 1972, so this one has its 45th anniversary this year. It is still not entirely forgotten because the man who wrote this play and also directed this film was Rainer Werner Fassbinder and here in the early 1970s he was still under the age of 30. But he had the actors already around him that he worked on so many other occasions, not just Margit Carstensen who plays the central character, but also the likes of Lommel, Schygulla, Raab, Brem, Pempeit and Sedlmayr for example. So yeah, this is really a very theatrical movie we have here. It was released for the small screen and is basically a recorded stage performance. There is always something "stagey" to Fassbinder's films, sometimes more and sometimes less and I must say that I do enjoy these more where it is less the case. This may be one reason why I found it difficult to appreciate this one we have here.
The subject is emancipation in the 19th century and even if Geesche may sound a bit like geisha, this of course has nothing to do with Asia, but is set in the North German city of Bremen where we follow Geesche Gottfried in her everyday life, her marriage and her interactions with her nearest ones which are obviously not always her dearest ones as we find out especially at the very end too. Time may not have been ready for Geesche yet and the word "Trauerspiel" certainly fits very well overall with how it all ends. The ending is probably also the best aspect of this 85-minute film (may sound short, but feels actually really long), but sadly it is far from being good enough where I would say that it is worth sitting through the previous 80 minutes for that ending unfortunately. I found that the film dragged a lot on some occasions and the baby sounds were downright annoying, even if I am sure that is exactly what Fassbinder wanted them to be. I have seen many films from him and this one here is nowhere near my favorites sadly. I can see why it is also not really famous compared to most of his other works and I do believe that if it had been made by somebody else, it may have been completely forgotten by now without the name Fassbinder attached to this project. It is known for the name, but Fassbinder is not known for this film, but for many other superior works. "Bremen Freedom" (the literal translation) gets a thumbs-down from me. Not recommended.
The subject is emancipation in the 19th century and even if Geesche may sound a bit like geisha, this of course has nothing to do with Asia, but is set in the North German city of Bremen where we follow Geesche Gottfried in her everyday life, her marriage and her interactions with her nearest ones which are obviously not always her dearest ones as we find out especially at the very end too. Time may not have been ready for Geesche yet and the word "Trauerspiel" certainly fits very well overall with how it all ends. The ending is probably also the best aspect of this 85-minute film (may sound short, but feels actually really long), but sadly it is far from being good enough where I would say that it is worth sitting through the previous 80 minutes for that ending unfortunately. I found that the film dragged a lot on some occasions and the baby sounds were downright annoying, even if I am sure that is exactly what Fassbinder wanted them to be. I have seen many films from him and this one here is nowhere near my favorites sadly. I can see why it is also not really famous compared to most of his other works and I do believe that if it had been made by somebody else, it may have been completely forgotten by now without the name Fassbinder attached to this project. It is known for the name, but Fassbinder is not known for this film, but for many other superior works. "Bremen Freedom" (the literal translation) gets a thumbs-down from me. Not recommended.