This is not an easy film to track down outside of Germany, but it's worth the effort. Die Bleierne Zeit (released as Marianne & Juliane in North America and The German Sisters in the UK) translates more literally as "leaden times", a title that gives a sense of the heavy political atmosphere of West Germany in the period following WWII. Margarethe von Trotta was already a leading filmmaker in the New German Cinema movement before this film, directing The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum with her then-husband, Volker Schlöndorff, in 1975. Similar to Leaden Times, this earlier film (based on the novel by Heinrich Böll) focuses on a female lead and explores themes of politics and terrorism through a feminist lens. Later von Trotta movies, such as Rosa Luxemburg (1986) and The Long Silence (1993), also explored similar territory, set in the period during and after WWII.
Leaden Times follows the lives of two sisters, Marianne (Barbara Sukowa) and Juliane (Jutta Lampe), as they navigate their personal struggles and political activism in post-war Germany. The film draws inspiration from the lives of real-life sisters, Gudrun Ensslin and Christiane Ensslin, who were members of the Red Army Faction, a left-wing militant group in Germany during the 1970s. In von Trotta's fictionalised version of the story, the two sisters Marianne and Juliane take different paths in life but are both driven by shared political convictions and a desire for social change. What drives them apart is the manner in which they pursue these goals. Marianne's involvement in radical political activities, including bombings and armed resistance against the state, becomes a central element of the story. Her commitment to the cause leads to her eventual imprisonment.
In early scenes, we see the formative years of Marianne and Juliane, showcasing their strong bond and the shared experiences that would go on to shape their political consciousness. The film then unfolds through a series of flashbacks, intertwining their present and past experiences. Marianne is a journalist and political activist, while Juliane is a successful magazine editor who focuses on women's rights and who becomes deeply concerned about her sister's wellbeing. The narrative explores their contrasting lives and ideologies, with Marianne being the more radical and revolutionary of the two. Juliane tries to reconcile her love and admiration for her sister with her own commitment to a more peaceful approach to social change. The film delves deeply into the complexities of their bond as sisters.
Leaden Times received critical acclaim for its storytelling, artful direction and the performances of Sukowa and Lampe. The cinematography of Franz Rath also deserves a lot of praise. No film I've seen presents such a nuanced portrayal of women in radical political movements, exploring the intersection of gender, politics and personal sacrifice. One of von Trotta's primary aims was to highlight the struggle for individual freedom and the sacrifices made, particularly by women, in the pursuit of larger social change. Other films about the Baader-Meinhof Gang, such as Fassbinder's Germany In Autumn (1978), explore the group's political action from multiple perspectives, but von Trotta's film is stronger for its focus on the lives of just two sisters. The influence of von Trotta's approach can be seen in later films about the subject, such as The State I Am In (2000) and The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008).
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