Schygulla gives a magnificent performance as a vulnerable young woman who becomes a self-confident, independent and competent survivor yet still comes to a bad end, largely because of the basic corruption of her world

Shows no advance in Fassbinder's complacently vicious art.

Fassbinder himself was cruel and distant to those around him, particularly those who loved him, and in Maria Braun, he created an indelible monster who is perversely fascinating.

The great German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder is both bold and clear in his analogy of continuity: not that much has changed.