ABOUT THE FILM
Main Idea/Topic:
The main idea is to show that being so squared and strict minded could make our lives really boring, making us becoming less approachable to people, and to talk about how love and romance take different shapes to get to us. Also It is a movie about painful things in life. But that is a miniscule façade; the whole picture is about romantic humor.
Main Characters:
Martha Klein
Lina Klein (Martha's niece)
Mario
Martha's Therapist
Frida
Lea
Samuel 'Sam' Thalberg
Giuseppe Lorenzo
PERSONAL RESPONSES
Initial Responses:
The first thing that came to my head was after I finished watching the movie was another movie called Like Water for Chocolate adapted from the book with the same title written by Laura Esquivel. This was a movie about food and the kitchen, a movie in which the mayor communication via is the food, as if it had magical powers. It was a beautiful movie.
Later Responses:
A film about a perfectly balance between sad things and happy things, a film tells what is said about the opposite poles, they attract each other and stick together making a perfect symphony of harmony, or at least I like to believe so.
Who is the writer on the film? / Has the screenplay been adapted from another work?
1. Sandra Nettelbeck
The film screenplay is has not been adapted from another work.
Background on the director:
Sandra Nettelbeck was born in Hamburg in 1966 and completed her high school education in 1984. She was a production assistant on several films between 1984-1985 and began studying Film at San Francisco State University in 1987, producing among others A Certain Grace, (Best Short Film, San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 1992). She made her feature debut Loose Ends (Unbestaendig und kuehl) in 1995 and wrote and directed Mammamia (Best Screenplay and Best Film, Ophuels Festival Saarbruecken 1998) in 1997. Her other films include Mostly Martha (Bella Martha, 2001), and Sergeant Pepper (2004).
(www.german-films.de)
When was the film made? / What is/was the social and political climate like at the time in that country and the world?
Politics of Germany takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Federal Chancellor is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, Bundestag and Bundesrat. Since 1949 the party system is dominated by the conservative Christian Democratic Union and the democratic Social Democratic Party of Germany. The Judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system is laid out in the 1949 constitution, the Grundgesetz (Basic Law), which remained in effect with minor amendments after 1990's German Reunification. The constitution emphasizes the protection of individual liberty in an extensive catalogue of human rights and also divides powers both between the federal and state levels and between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. In many ways, the 1949 Grundgesetz is a strong response to the perceived flaws of the failed 1919 Weimar Republic, which collapsed in favour of the dictatorship of the Third Reich.
Germans continue to be concerned about a relatively high level of unemployment. Germany has passed several reforms to curb unemployment. Some of these reforms will require people in the labour force to work harder and more efficiently. For centuries, a woman's role in German society was summed up by the three words: Kinder (children), Kirche (church), and Küche (kitchen). Throughout the twentieth century, however, women have gradually won victories in their quest for equal rights. Despite significant gains, discrimination remains in united Germany. Women are noticeably absent in the top tiers of German business. They only hold 9.2 % of jobs in Germany's upper and middle management positions, according to 2002 figures from the Hoppenstedt business databank. Since 2001 women are in active duty in the Bundeswehr. Since World War II, Germany has experienced intermittent turmoil from various extremist groups. In the 1970s the terrorist Red Army Faction engaged in a string of assassinations and kidnappings against political and business figures and there has been a recent surge in right-wing extremist crimes. According to former Interior Minister Otto Schily, the number of these crimes rose 8.4% to 12,553 cases in 2004, which the minister attributed to such crimes as the display of illegal Nazi symbols being reported more frequently. The majority of these cases are not violent crimes, although these do exist as well. Germany is also burdened with an extremely low fertility/birthrate. Obviously, this has and will continue to cause many economic and social problems. For instance, the low birthrate has caused a shortage of young workers to replace the aging ones. This is expected to cause trouble in Germany's generous social welfare system, due fewer taxpayers and more elderly who will receive benefits. There is much debate as to what should be done to curb this trend. More daycare centers, paying cash to mothers for babies that are born, and incentives for men or women to stay home with the children have all been offered as solutions to this problem. So far none have been fully implemented. Germany has failed to implement EU laws prohibiting racial discrimination. The European Court of Justice ruled on 29 April 2005, that Germany had breached EU law by failing to transpose fully the 'Racial Equality Directive' prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin (Directive 2000/43/EC). The deadline for EU Member States to transpose this Directive was 19 July 2003 – except for the 10 new Member States, who had to ensure that their legislation complied with the Directives by their accession to the EU on 1 May 2004. Immigrants to Germany may generally face integration issues and other difficulties. In addition to the challenges of adapting to a new language and culture, they may be subject to security-related police inquiries and violence from right-wing extremist groups. The government has attempted to improve immigrant integration by mandating courses on language, culture, politics, and society for some immigrants. Some German states have banned Muslim teachers from wearing headscarves in class and all states have banned crosses from the classroom as well, generally by prohibiting the use of all religious symbols by teachers. This is legitimate by combining the German states' privilege of educational laws with the principle of separation of church and state, both provided for in the German federal constitution: According to this legal view, teachers in their vocational function within a state administered educational system are obliged to maintain and publicly exhibit religious neutrality when on duty. As this status of employment does not hold for pupils, whose constitutional right to religious freedom thus remains unencumbered by these provisions, this ban cannot legally be extended to them as it is in France. The question of headscarves and crosses in schools has been heavily discussed politically throughout Germany in recent years, but could only be solved by a decision of the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) in 2003.
(www.wikipedia.com)
What does the title mean in relation with the film as a whole?
Try to establish a connection –sometimes clear, sometimes metaphorical.
The title in relation with the film as a whole is really clear; Mostly Martha refers to the fact that Martha is a compulsive and obsessive person which likes that everything is done her way. In other words, it’s all about her.
Describe how the opening credits are presented? / How do they relate to meaning?
In black background the credits are presented in white letters while the only thing we hear is the voice of a woman saying: “I love to serve them roasted. It gives them a more robust taste. A wonderful side dish would be ravioli with boletus, truffles and wild mushrooms or chanterelles depending on the season. But you need a good pigeon. It must be meaty or it’ll dry out. You could also cook them in a pig’s bladder [it fades in to a shot of the woman talking, Martha, as she continues] in Madeira, Cognac and Port. It keeps the pigeon well-protected and juicy. Serve it with tagliatelle with sprig onions, truffles and glazed shallots in a delicate thyme sauce. [It cuts to a shot of a man sitting down and listening to her as she continues] Truffles are perfect for any pigeon dish, because the delicate pigeon flavor…” Then Martha asks the man if he feels ill, and he answers that he is not, and tells her to please go on. And annoyingly enough, she starts again: “A wonderful starter would be a crayfish and mussels…” then, the man interrupts Martha from talking and asks her if he could change the subject just for a moment; she agrees and the man who is her therapist asks: “Why do you come to therapy every week?”; and Martha asks him why is it that he asks that, to what the therapist responds: “Well, I thought perhaps it might be helpful to know.” Martha thinks a few seconds about it and responds: “My boss says she’ll fire me, if I don’t go to therapy.” Subsequently, the therapist asks again if she knows why her boss thinks she needs therapy; to which Martha replies: “You know what? I have no idea!” Then it cuts to a sequence in which we see a woman putting on her chef cloth and then we only see a lot of people cooking delicious dishes and recipes in a restaurant while others are setting the tables, all with a jazz like music with piano and saxophone only; the music is very relaxing and stylished, really refined and romantic, like the food they are making. The remaining credits are presented in white letters while this last sequence is shown. The relation of the credits with the meaning of the movie is that the entire movie is about Martha and Martha is mostly about cooking, she is compulsive and obsessed, precise with it. We can see this in the first part while she is in therapy that is used as a means of showing what’s going on in her head, and then we see were she actually makes her cooking, we see her working in her kitchen, her second home. As Martha said in the film, “One knows a good chef by the quality of his simplest of dishes.”
What three or four sequences are most important in the film? / Why?
The scene in which Martha starts to discuss with a costumer, because the man said that his dish was undercooked, and Martha argues that its perfect, she even tells him the detailed explanation of how it was cooked and tells him that he won’t even taste it because he smokes. But she is really mad about the fact that someone critiqued one of her dishes. This scene in important because it shows us Martha’s personality and physiological behavior; she is a really pride person who thinks is never wrong, especially in cooking matters, where she is the best according to her. Martha is an obsessive, compulsive, neurotic, perfectionist, precise and meticulous person, she is a total nutcase.
The scene in which after Martha’s sister dies, she is in the kitchen cooking some dishes and he hear a voice over of what she is thinking: “In the tank, a lobster eats itself slowly from inside. That’s why you have to check its weight when you by one. If it’s not as heavy as it looks… it has been in the tank too long. Some people still kill a lobster by throwing it in boiling water. But by now everyone should know that for the animal it’s the most agonizing death, because it takes so long to die. The best way to kill a lobster is with a well-placed stab in the neck. It’s quickest.” This scene is important because Martha is making a metaphor about death, and how she sees death, obviously thru a simile with cooking, but more than that she sees death as a really painful thing. Is a metaphor about what she and Lina fell, that probably is easier to die too, really quick so its all better, because their staying in this world at that specific point is like the lobster dying in boiling water; that is, the burden of final loneliness and the pain for the loss.
The scene in which Martha cooks for Lina and she rejects to eat because she is not hungry and she asks if she could go to her room and Martha asks her if she would like something else to eat, Lina rejects her food once more and Martha lets her go to her room. This scene is important because is a big problem what just happened in this scene; that is, that Martha communicates with people through her cooking and interestingly enough, Lina does not want to eat. In conclusion they would need to find another way to communicate. Perhaps, actually talking to each other might do the trick, funny isn’t it?
What were your expectations from your knowledge of that country’s cinema or director’s work? / Where they confirmed or disappointed? Explain.
I expected this movie to be a really painful thing, which talked about really frustrating and sad things from a really demolishing point of view which by the way might be a little depressing; even though it treated themes about repression and unhappiness, it was not the main focus of the film. It was a real surprise to me to watch such a full of life and love movie, and humor “how about that?” in a German movie. I shall say without doubt that I was enchanted by it and surprised too.
In your opinion, what was the aim/purpose of this film? Be specific.
The purpose of the film is to portray the clash of two worlds, two cultures. Martha represents methodic, nutcase cold and gray Germany and Mario represents happy, flirting, stressless and familiar sunny Italy. Are delicious dishes against homelike dishes, is technique against love and pleasure.
Give at least five examples from the film (besides the language) which signal it’s being labeled a film from _____________________ (country).
Philosophical parable
Psychologically motivated characters
Intimate contradiction
The theme of family and paternity
Preoccupation with male identity and the female nation
How does the film try to make its case? (e.g. by emotional appeal, alienation, manipulation of point of view, documentary authority, symbolism, etc.) Give examples. / Is it persuasive?
The film tries to make its case thru emotional appeal and symbolism, the major symbol in the movie is cooking and food, it represents things such as love, communication, rejection, empathy, or a more complex thing such as changing a neurotic person into someone more relaxed. And emotional appeal because in the movie the situation between Lina and Martha at first is frustrating, then between Lina and Mario is interesting, and then between Mario and Martha its just wonderful, also the music is really romantic so the director plays with our emotions throughout the whole film in a brilliant manner.
Main Idea/Topic:
The main idea is to show that being so squared and strict minded could make our lives really boring, making us becoming less approachable to people, and to talk about how love and romance take different shapes to get to us. Also It is a movie about painful things in life. But that is a miniscule façade; the whole picture is about romantic humor.
Main Characters:
Martha Klein
Lina Klein (Martha's niece)
Mario
Martha's Therapist
Frida
Lea
Samuel 'Sam' Thalberg
Giuseppe Lorenzo
PERSONAL RESPONSES
Initial Responses:
The first thing that came to my head was after I finished watching the movie was another movie called Like Water for Chocolate adapted from the book with the same title written by Laura Esquivel. This was a movie about food and the kitchen, a movie in which the mayor communication via is the food, as if it had magical powers. It was a beautiful movie.
Later Responses:
A film about a perfectly balance between sad things and happy things, a film tells what is said about the opposite poles, they attract each other and stick together making a perfect symphony of harmony, or at least I like to believe so.
Who is the writer on the film? / Has the screenplay been adapted from another work?
1. Sandra Nettelbeck
The film screenplay is has not been adapted from another work.
Background on the director:
Sandra Nettelbeck was born in Hamburg in 1966 and completed her high school education in 1984. She was a production assistant on several films between 1984-1985 and began studying Film at San Francisco State University in 1987, producing among others A Certain Grace, (Best Short Film, San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 1992). She made her feature debut Loose Ends (Unbestaendig und kuehl) in 1995 and wrote and directed Mammamia (Best Screenplay and Best Film, Ophuels Festival Saarbruecken 1998) in 1997. Her other films include Mostly Martha (Bella Martha, 2001), and Sergeant Pepper (2004).
(www.german-films.de)
When was the film made? / What is/was the social and political climate like at the time in that country and the world?
Politics of Germany takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Federal Chancellor is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, Bundestag and Bundesrat. Since 1949 the party system is dominated by the conservative Christian Democratic Union and the democratic Social Democratic Party of Germany. The Judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system is laid out in the 1949 constitution, the Grundgesetz (Basic Law), which remained in effect with minor amendments after 1990's German Reunification. The constitution emphasizes the protection of individual liberty in an extensive catalogue of human rights and also divides powers both between the federal and state levels and between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. In many ways, the 1949 Grundgesetz is a strong response to the perceived flaws of the failed 1919 Weimar Republic, which collapsed in favour of the dictatorship of the Third Reich.
Germans continue to be concerned about a relatively high level of unemployment. Germany has passed several reforms to curb unemployment. Some of these reforms will require people in the labour force to work harder and more efficiently. For centuries, a woman's role in German society was summed up by the three words: Kinder (children), Kirche (church), and Küche (kitchen). Throughout the twentieth century, however, women have gradually won victories in their quest for equal rights. Despite significant gains, discrimination remains in united Germany. Women are noticeably absent in the top tiers of German business. They only hold 9.2 % of jobs in Germany's upper and middle management positions, according to 2002 figures from the Hoppenstedt business databank. Since 2001 women are in active duty in the Bundeswehr. Since World War II, Germany has experienced intermittent turmoil from various extremist groups. In the 1970s the terrorist Red Army Faction engaged in a string of assassinations and kidnappings against political and business figures and there has been a recent surge in right-wing extremist crimes. According to former Interior Minister Otto Schily, the number of these crimes rose 8.4% to 12,553 cases in 2004, which the minister attributed to such crimes as the display of illegal Nazi symbols being reported more frequently. The majority of these cases are not violent crimes, although these do exist as well. Germany is also burdened with an extremely low fertility/birthrate. Obviously, this has and will continue to cause many economic and social problems. For instance, the low birthrate has caused a shortage of young workers to replace the aging ones. This is expected to cause trouble in Germany's generous social welfare system, due fewer taxpayers and more elderly who will receive benefits. There is much debate as to what should be done to curb this trend. More daycare centers, paying cash to mothers for babies that are born, and incentives for men or women to stay home with the children have all been offered as solutions to this problem. So far none have been fully implemented. Germany has failed to implement EU laws prohibiting racial discrimination. The European Court of Justice ruled on 29 April 2005, that Germany had breached EU law by failing to transpose fully the 'Racial Equality Directive' prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin (Directive 2000/43/EC). The deadline for EU Member States to transpose this Directive was 19 July 2003 – except for the 10 new Member States, who had to ensure that their legislation complied with the Directives by their accession to the EU on 1 May 2004. Immigrants to Germany may generally face integration issues and other difficulties. In addition to the challenges of adapting to a new language and culture, they may be subject to security-related police inquiries and violence from right-wing extremist groups. The government has attempted to improve immigrant integration by mandating courses on language, culture, politics, and society for some immigrants. Some German states have banned Muslim teachers from wearing headscarves in class and all states have banned crosses from the classroom as well, generally by prohibiting the use of all religious symbols by teachers. This is legitimate by combining the German states' privilege of educational laws with the principle of separation of church and state, both provided for in the German federal constitution: According to this legal view, teachers in their vocational function within a state administered educational system are obliged to maintain and publicly exhibit religious neutrality when on duty. As this status of employment does not hold for pupils, whose constitutional right to religious freedom thus remains unencumbered by these provisions, this ban cannot legally be extended to them as it is in France. The question of headscarves and crosses in schools has been heavily discussed politically throughout Germany in recent years, but could only be solved by a decision of the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) in 2003.
(www.wikipedia.com)
What does the title mean in relation with the film as a whole?
Try to establish a connection –sometimes clear, sometimes metaphorical.
The title in relation with the film as a whole is really clear; Mostly Martha refers to the fact that Martha is a compulsive and obsessive person which likes that everything is done her way. In other words, it’s all about her.
Describe how the opening credits are presented? / How do they relate to meaning?
In black background the credits are presented in white letters while the only thing we hear is the voice of a woman saying: “I love to serve them roasted. It gives them a more robust taste. A wonderful side dish would be ravioli with boletus, truffles and wild mushrooms or chanterelles depending on the season. But you need a good pigeon. It must be meaty or it’ll dry out. You could also cook them in a pig’s bladder [it fades in to a shot of the woman talking, Martha, as she continues] in Madeira, Cognac and Port. It keeps the pigeon well-protected and juicy. Serve it with tagliatelle with sprig onions, truffles and glazed shallots in a delicate thyme sauce. [It cuts to a shot of a man sitting down and listening to her as she continues] Truffles are perfect for any pigeon dish, because the delicate pigeon flavor…” Then Martha asks the man if he feels ill, and he answers that he is not, and tells her to please go on. And annoyingly enough, she starts again: “A wonderful starter would be a crayfish and mussels…” then, the man interrupts Martha from talking and asks her if he could change the subject just for a moment; she agrees and the man who is her therapist asks: “Why do you come to therapy every week?”; and Martha asks him why is it that he asks that, to what the therapist responds: “Well, I thought perhaps it might be helpful to know.” Martha thinks a few seconds about it and responds: “My boss says she’ll fire me, if I don’t go to therapy.” Subsequently, the therapist asks again if she knows why her boss thinks she needs therapy; to which Martha replies: “You know what? I have no idea!” Then it cuts to a sequence in which we see a woman putting on her chef cloth and then we only see a lot of people cooking delicious dishes and recipes in a restaurant while others are setting the tables, all with a jazz like music with piano and saxophone only; the music is very relaxing and stylished, really refined and romantic, like the food they are making. The remaining credits are presented in white letters while this last sequence is shown. The relation of the credits with the meaning of the movie is that the entire movie is about Martha and Martha is mostly about cooking, she is compulsive and obsessed, precise with it. We can see this in the first part while she is in therapy that is used as a means of showing what’s going on in her head, and then we see were she actually makes her cooking, we see her working in her kitchen, her second home. As Martha said in the film, “One knows a good chef by the quality of his simplest of dishes.”
What three or four sequences are most important in the film? / Why?
The scene in which Martha starts to discuss with a costumer, because the man said that his dish was undercooked, and Martha argues that its perfect, she even tells him the detailed explanation of how it was cooked and tells him that he won’t even taste it because he smokes. But she is really mad about the fact that someone critiqued one of her dishes. This scene in important because it shows us Martha’s personality and physiological behavior; she is a really pride person who thinks is never wrong, especially in cooking matters, where she is the best according to her. Martha is an obsessive, compulsive, neurotic, perfectionist, precise and meticulous person, she is a total nutcase.
The scene in which after Martha’s sister dies, she is in the kitchen cooking some dishes and he hear a voice over of what she is thinking: “In the tank, a lobster eats itself slowly from inside. That’s why you have to check its weight when you by one. If it’s not as heavy as it looks… it has been in the tank too long. Some people still kill a lobster by throwing it in boiling water. But by now everyone should know that for the animal it’s the most agonizing death, because it takes so long to die. The best way to kill a lobster is with a well-placed stab in the neck. It’s quickest.” This scene is important because Martha is making a metaphor about death, and how she sees death, obviously thru a simile with cooking, but more than that she sees death as a really painful thing. Is a metaphor about what she and Lina fell, that probably is easier to die too, really quick so its all better, because their staying in this world at that specific point is like the lobster dying in boiling water; that is, the burden of final loneliness and the pain for the loss.
The scene in which Martha cooks for Lina and she rejects to eat because she is not hungry and she asks if she could go to her room and Martha asks her if she would like something else to eat, Lina rejects her food once more and Martha lets her go to her room. This scene is important because is a big problem what just happened in this scene; that is, that Martha communicates with people through her cooking and interestingly enough, Lina does not want to eat. In conclusion they would need to find another way to communicate. Perhaps, actually talking to each other might do the trick, funny isn’t it?
What were your expectations from your knowledge of that country’s cinema or director’s work? / Where they confirmed or disappointed? Explain.
I expected this movie to be a really painful thing, which talked about really frustrating and sad things from a really demolishing point of view which by the way might be a little depressing; even though it treated themes about repression and unhappiness, it was not the main focus of the film. It was a real surprise to me to watch such a full of life and love movie, and humor “how about that?” in a German movie. I shall say without doubt that I was enchanted by it and surprised too.
In your opinion, what was the aim/purpose of this film? Be specific.
The purpose of the film is to portray the clash of two worlds, two cultures. Martha represents methodic, nutcase cold and gray Germany and Mario represents happy, flirting, stressless and familiar sunny Italy. Are delicious dishes against homelike dishes, is technique against love and pleasure.
Give at least five examples from the film (besides the language) which signal it’s being labeled a film from _____________________ (country).
Philosophical parable
Psychologically motivated characters
Intimate contradiction
The theme of family and paternity
Preoccupation with male identity and the female nation
How does the film try to make its case? (e.g. by emotional appeal, alienation, manipulation of point of view, documentary authority, symbolism, etc.) Give examples. / Is it persuasive?
The film tries to make its case thru emotional appeal and symbolism, the major symbol in the movie is cooking and food, it represents things such as love, communication, rejection, empathy, or a more complex thing such as changing a neurotic person into someone more relaxed. And emotional appeal because in the movie the situation between Lina and Martha at first is frustrating, then between Lina and Mario is interesting, and then between Mario and Martha its just wonderful, also the music is really romantic so the director plays with our emotions throughout the whole film in a brilliant manner.
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