Martha

Martha

Martha

Share

Martha

"A bond marked by fear!"

1974

1h 56m

7.0(71 votes)

TV Movie

Drama

Thriller

Overview

After the death of her abusive father, lonely librarian Martha finds herself caught up in a strange, sadomasochistic relationship with a monstrous husband whom she begins to suspect may be trying to murder her.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

WDR

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Margit Carstensen

Margit Carstensen

Martha

Karlheinz Böhm

Karlheinz Böhm

Helmut

Barbara Valentin

Barbara Valentin

Marianne

Peter Chatel

Peter Chatel

Kaiser

Gisela Fackeldey

Gisela Fackeldey

Mother Heyer

Adrian Hoven

Adrian Hoven

Father Heyer

Ortrud Beginnen

Ortrud Beginnen

Erna

Wolfgang Schenck

Wolfgang Schenck

Meister

Günter Lamprecht

Günter Lamprecht

Dr. Salomon

El Hedi ben Salem

El Hedi ben Salem

Hotel Guest

Creative team

Directed by: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Written by: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Produced by: Peter Märthesheimer

Similar Movies

Venus

Venus

Maurice is an aging veteran actor who becomes taken with Jessie, the grandniece of his closest friend. When Maurice tries to soften the petulant and provincial young girl with the benefit of his wisdom and London culture, their give-and-take surprises both Maurice and Jessie as they discover what they don't know about themselves.

Mr. Park

Mr. Park

Mr. Park raises his children by repairing charcoal pits. Although ignorant and stubborn, Mr. Park has a good heart. He is displeased, however, with his eldest daughter, Yong-sun (Jo Mi-ryeong), because of her close relationship with Jae-cheon (Hwang hae), who is a scamp in his eyes. He is also unsatisfied with his second daughter, Myeong-sun (Eom Aeng-ran), for liking Ju-sik (Bang Su-il). Only his eldest son, Yong-beom (Kim Jin-gyu), is the apple of his eye, as he approves of his son's wife, Jeom-rye (Kim Hye-jeong). When Yong-beom is sent to a foreign branch office, Mr. Park is against it at first but approves of it, as he knows what it means for his son's future. Eventually, too, he begins to approve of his two daughters' relationships.

Heartburn

Heartburn

She's a magazine writer who gives up her career for love and family. He's a playboy newspaper columnist who can't quite give up his old tricks. And if that combination doesn't give a relationship heartburn, nothing will.

Eden Lake

Eden Lake

When a young couple goes to a remote wooded lake for a romantic getaway, their quiet weekend is shattered by an aggressive group of local kids. Rowdiness quickly turns to rage as the teens terrorize the couple in unimaginable ways, and a weekend outing becomes a bloody battle for survival.

Burnt Offerings

Burnt Offerings

A family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.

Old

Old

A group of families on a tropical holiday discover that the secluded beach where they are staying is somehow causing them to age rapidly – reducing their entire lives into a single day.

Five Miles to Midnight

Five Miles to Midnight

American ex-Air Force man and current businessman Bob Macklin is married to the impoverished Italian-born Lisa. Bob’s jealousy and immaturity irks Lisa, who tells him she’s planning to file for a divorce before his plane departs on a business trip for Casablanca.

To Paint or Make Love

To Paint or Make Love

An affluent, middle-aged couple's uneventful lives are forever changed when they move into an isolated house in the country and befriend an odd, younger couple.

Adam's Woman

Adam's Woman

Adam is a young American wrongly accused of being an accomplice to murder while on shore leave in Liverpool. He is sentenced to death by hanging but the sentence is commuted to twenty years in a convict settlement in Australia.

Christmas at Maxwell's

Christmas at Maxwell's

A successful American family retreat to their summer home on the banks of Lake Erie to find meaning in life, illness, loss, and change this Christmas. With a successful career in the wine business, and two amazing children, what more can a family ask for. But this Christmas will change the Austin family forever with Suzie falling ill. With Andrew struggling over his wife's ill health and the children trying to find peace and solace on their own, only a miracle can help them through this Christmas.

Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys

Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys

Wealthy socialite Charlotte Cartwright and her dear friend Alice Pratt, a working class woman of high ideals, have enjoyed a lasting friendship throughout several decades. Recently, their lives have become mired in turmoil as their adult children’s extramarital affairs, unethical business practices, and a dark secret threaten to derail family fortunes and unravel the lives of all involved. Charlotte and Alice decide to take a breather from it all by making a cross-country road trip in which they rediscover themselves and possibly find a way to save their families from ruin.

Like Water for Chocolate

Like Water for Chocolate

Tita is passionately in love with Pedro, but her controlling mother forbids her from marrying him. When Pedro marries her sister, Tita throws herself into her cooking and discovers she can transfer her emotions through the food she prepares, infecting all who eat it with her intense heartbreak.

Dream Lover

Dream Lover

Not long after they cross paths at an art gallery, architect Ray Reardon and hypnotically sensual Lena are married with children. But as strange incidents occur, Ray begins to realize he may not really know the woman he married.

Reds

Reds

An account of the revolutionary years of the legendary American journalist John Reed, who shared his adventurous professional life with his radical commitment to the socialist revolution in Russia, his dream of spreading its principles among the members of the American working class, and his troubled romantic relationship with the writer Louise Bryant.

A Better Tomorrow II

A Better Tomorrow II

A restauranteur teams up with a police officer and his ex-con brother to avenge the death of a friend's daughter.

The Hyena

The Hyena

An ex-model gets caught up in lust, murder and betrayal when a gun-wielding man pays her a visit.

Tokyo Story

Tokyo Story

The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.

Made for Each Other

Made for Each Other

A couple struggle to find happiness after a whirlwind courtship.

Tobacco Road

Tobacco Road

Shiftless Jeeter Lester and his family of sharecroppers live in rural Georgia where their ancestors were once wealthy planters. Their slapstick existence is threatened by a bank's plans to take over the land for more profitable farming.

Spinning Man

Spinning Man

Evan Birch is a family man and esteemed professor at a distinguished university. When a female student goes missing, police Detective Malloy has reason to be suspicious when crucial evidence makes Evan the prime suspect in her disappearance.

Recommended Movies

Deep Water

Deep Water

A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers.

Flowers in the Attic

Flowers in the Attic

After the sudden death of their father, four children face cruel treatment from their ruthless grandmother.

Seeds of Yesterday

Seeds of Yesterday

The Sheffield family reveal and go through some home truths as their middle child inherits the Foxworth mansion. The family's ghosts looming over, and more tragedies are in store as the curse lives on.

One & Two

One & Two

In an isolated farmhouse, located in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by a mysterious wooden wall, Zac and Eva, two siblings gifted with extraordinary abilities, endure every day the wrath of their strict father while witnessing how a cruel sickness lurks their beloved mother.

Girl in the Box

Girl in the Box

The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.

The Ledge

The Ledge

A thriller in which a battle of philosophies between a fundamentalist Christian and an atheist who shares an apartment with a gay friend escalates into a lethal battle of wills.

TalhotBlond

TalhotBlond

Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.

Infidelity in Suburbia

Infidelity in Suburbia

With her husband away at work, and her son at school, Laura dreams of a home-renovation project to supplant her restless days. Elliott, her irresistibly hot private contractor, soon fulfills her more forbidden dreams.

Dream Lover

Dream Lover

Not long after they cross paths at an art gallery, architect Ray Reardon and hypnotically sensual Lena are married with children. But as strange incidents occur, Ray begins to realize he may not really know the woman he married.

Addicted

Addicted

A gallerist risks her family and flourishing career when she enters into an affair with a talented painter and slowly loses control of her life.

Sleeping with the Enemy

Sleeping with the Enemy

A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband.

180

180

When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.

If There Be Thorns

If There Be Thorns

Christopher and Cathy Dollanganger live together as man and wife with Cathy's two sons who are unaware of the incestuous nature of their parents' relationship. But when a mysterious woman moves in next door and befriends the younger boy, Bart, he begins a strange transformation and displays accusatory behavior towards Cathy and Christopher. When Christopher discovers their mysterious neighbor is, in fact, his mother Corrine Dollanganger, all of the family's long-hidden secrets are revealed in a tragic climax.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor's life in gradually unsettling ways.

Adulterers

Adulterers

On a steamy New Orleans afternoon, Sam Deuprey decides to surprise his beautiful wife, Ashley, for their anniversary and comes home early. But Ashley is not alone in the bedroom. She and her lover, Damien are about to learn how far a jealous husband will go.

The Good Neighbor

The Good Neighbor

A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.

Gone Girl

Gone Girl

With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.

Shirley

Shirley

A famous horror writer finds inspiration for her next book after she and her husband take in a young couple.

The Neighbor in the Window

The Neighbor in the Window

A suburban wife finds herself and the security of her family threatened by another seemingly friendly neighborhood mom.

Butterfly on a Wheel

Butterfly on a Wheel

A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.