Hanna Schygulla
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Lead icon of the influential New German Cinema of the 70's & 80's,
Schygulla's natural blonde beauty and amazing versatility keep her
among the world's top actresses. She won best actress at Cannes in 1983
for The Story of Piera (1983) (aka
"The Story of Piera"), an Italian/German co-production. The
Turkish/German co-production,
The Edge of Heaven (2007)
(aka "The Edge of Heaven"), won the 2007 Cannes award for best
screenplay. The now silver-haired actress appears to have shunned
plastic surgery.
One of many protégés of
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who
gave Schygulla especially tender treatment and nurturing, while he
terrorized, manipulated, and slept with many of the other actors and
filmmakers Fassbinder developed in his incestuous family-like
theatrical and film troupes.
Over 12 years, Hanna Schygulla appeared in 23 Fassbinder movies
(including his first feature film), the most-acclaimed being
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
(aka "The Marriage of Maria Braun") (for which she won the Silver
Bear), Lili Marleen (1981) and
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980).
After a disagreement with Fassbinder, she did not appear in his final 4
movies. Their mentor/muse relationship is often favorably compared with
that of Josef von Sternberg and
Marlene Dietrich. Schygulla met
Fassbinder while she was studying romance languages and taking acting
lessons in Munich, then became a member of his collective theatre
troupe, "Munich Action Theatre", which eventually evolved into his film
group.
After Fassbinder's 1982 death, she appeared in a few commercial films,
and when she does act now, concentrates on complex roles in films with
unique, international social messages. Her better known non-Fassbinder
movies include Kenneth Branagh's
Dead Again (1991),
Casanova (1987) (with
Faye Dunaway),
Andrzej Wajda's
A Love in Germany (1983)
(aka "A Love in Germany") and
Margarethe von Trotta's
Sheer Madness (1983) (aka "Sheer
Madness"). She's renowned for portraying strong, sensual women, and her
language ability enables her to appear in films produced by many
countries. Her singing was featured in
Lili Marleen (1981) and
Sheer Madness (1983) (aka "Sheer
Madness"). Since 1997, she has turned away from movie acting, primarily
to chanson singing, recording CDs, appearing in the movie,
Hanna Schygulla Sings (1999)
and, in 2007, a one-woman autobiographical musical (including songs of
Janis Joplin,
Édith Piaf,
Billie Holiday,
Brecht). She was the lead and sang in a live
Vanessa Beecroft conceptual art piece
in a German castle, with Fassbinder's long-time associate,
Irm Hermann, plus 23 other women. Schygulla
has worked on producing films about Berlin's Holocaust memorial, and
about her work with Fassbinder.
Many of Fassbinder's film plots reflect his bizarre working relations
with cast and crew, and he often reserved the most glamorous costumes
and dramatic roles for Hanna Schygulla, intentionally pressuring his
other talented actresses, such as his feisty ex-wife
Ingrid Caven, and the abused
Irm Hermann. The extremely tense
relationships in the all-female
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
(aka "Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant") somewhat reflect real-life
interactions of Hermann, Schygulla (both are in the movie), Fassbinder,
and his mother.
Hann Schygulla's childhood family situation somewhat parallels her
role, typifying Germany's moral dilemmas at the end of World War II, in
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
(aka "The Marriage of Maria Braun"). Schygulla was born on Christmas
Day 1943, in Kattowice, Upper Silesia (then a section of Poland annexed
by the Third Reich). Her German father was an infantryman in Italy, who
was in a POW camp until she was 5. After the war, the German population
was expelled from the Kattowice area.
Schygulla's natural blonde beauty and amazing versatility keep her
among the world's top actresses. She won best actress at Cannes in 1983
for The Story of Piera (1983) (aka
"The Story of Piera"), an Italian/German co-production. The
Turkish/German co-production,
The Edge of Heaven (2007)
(aka "The Edge of Heaven"), won the 2007 Cannes award for best
screenplay. The now silver-haired actress appears to have shunned
plastic surgery.
One of many protégés of
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who
gave Schygulla especially tender treatment and nurturing, while he
terrorized, manipulated, and slept with many of the other actors and
filmmakers Fassbinder developed in his incestuous family-like
theatrical and film troupes.
Over 12 years, Hanna Schygulla appeared in 23 Fassbinder movies
(including his first feature film), the most-acclaimed being
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
(aka "The Marriage of Maria Braun") (for which she won the Silver
Bear), Lili Marleen (1981) and
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980).
After a disagreement with Fassbinder, she did not appear in his final 4
movies. Their mentor/muse relationship is often favorably compared with
that of Josef von Sternberg and
Marlene Dietrich. Schygulla met
Fassbinder while she was studying romance languages and taking acting
lessons in Munich, then became a member of his collective theatre
troupe, "Munich Action Theatre", which eventually evolved into his film
group.
After Fassbinder's 1982 death, she appeared in a few commercial films,
and when she does act now, concentrates on complex roles in films with
unique, international social messages. Her better known non-Fassbinder
movies include Kenneth Branagh's
Dead Again (1991),
Casanova (1987) (with
Faye Dunaway),
Andrzej Wajda's
A Love in Germany (1983)
(aka "A Love in Germany") and
Margarethe von Trotta's
Sheer Madness (1983) (aka "Sheer
Madness"). She's renowned for portraying strong, sensual women, and her
language ability enables her to appear in films produced by many
countries. Her singing was featured in
Lili Marleen (1981) and
Sheer Madness (1983) (aka "Sheer
Madness"). Since 1997, she has turned away from movie acting, primarily
to chanson singing, recording CDs, appearing in the movie,
Hanna Schygulla Sings (1999)
and, in 2007, a one-woman autobiographical musical (including songs of
Janis Joplin,
Édith Piaf,
Billie Holiday,
Brecht). She was the lead and sang in a live
Vanessa Beecroft conceptual art piece
in a German castle, with Fassbinder's long-time associate,
Irm Hermann, plus 23 other women. Schygulla
has worked on producing films about Berlin's Holocaust memorial, and
about her work with Fassbinder.
Many of Fassbinder's film plots reflect his bizarre working relations
with cast and crew, and he often reserved the most glamorous costumes
and dramatic roles for Hanna Schygulla, intentionally pressuring his
other talented actresses, such as his feisty ex-wife
Ingrid Caven, and the abused
Irm Hermann. The extremely tense
relationships in the all-female
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
(aka "Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant") somewhat reflect real-life
interactions of Hermann, Schygulla (both are in the movie), Fassbinder,
and his mother.
Hann Schygulla's childhood family situation somewhat parallels her
role, typifying Germany's moral dilemmas at the end of World War II, in
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
(aka "The Marriage of Maria Braun"). Schygulla was born on Christmas
Day 1943, in Kattowice, Upper Silesia (then a section of Poland annexed
by the Third Reich). Her German father was an infantryman in Italy, who
was in a POW camp until she was 5. After the war, the German population
was expelled from the Kattowice area.