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Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:23 am**

Separate Blu-ray and DVD releases due April 18th.

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2015 10:50 am**

I remember watching this during my first year at Warwick via a projection of a beat-up VHS tape of a Channel 4 recording. My abiding memory is that the whole class hated it. I was bored too, but this would have only been a couple of months after first getting into proper cinema, so I'm interested to revisit it on Blu-ray. I always felt that my fellow language students were indifferent to the films on our reading list, as they were always shown in such a crappy manner. It's hard to appreciate non-mainstream cinema when it is such an eyesore.

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2015 7:38 pm**

A restoration of this played at the London Film Festival, at the full original length of 151 minutes, and presumably that's the source for this Blu-ray. (It was apparently shortened to 123 minutes for German release and the UK cinema release was cut further to 109 minutes.) It's a film I remember being about and highly-regarded at the time (1981) but it's one I've never seen.

Posted: **Fri Feb 06, 2015 8:10 am**

Special features:

Germany, Pale Mother: original director's cut (Helma Sanders-Brahms, 1980, 151 minutes)
Germany, Pale Mother alternative theatrical cut (Helma Sanders-Brahms, 1980, 123 minutes)
Hermann Mein Vater (Helma Sanders-Brahms, 1987, 52 min)
Extensive booklet with essays and complete film credits
Other extras TBC

Posted: **Sat Feb 28, 2015 7:55 am**

This is great news.

I saw the film back in 1980 (the shorter version I think) and bought the Facets Region 1 dvd several years ago along with a number for Sanders-Brahms other films.

My favourite of her film is No Mercy, No Future. I never got around to re-watching Germany Pale Mother but will now buy the blu ray of this and place it on the top of my 'to watch again' pile.

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2015 9:44 am**

Full specs announced:

Germany Pale Mother
(Deutschland Bleiche Mutter)
A film by Helma Sanders-Brahms

Set during the Third Reich and its aftermath, this harrowing tale of love and war is a neglected classic of New German Cinema. Based on acclaimed director Helma Sanders-Brahms' mother's life, the film explores the devastating impact of war on family and relationships. It will be released for the first time in the UK by the BFI on Blu-ray and DVD on 25 May 2015. The Blu-ray edition exclusively contains a shorter theatrical cut.

Hans (Ernst Jacobi) and Lene (Eva Mattes) scarcely have time to meet and marry before Hans is sent away to fight, leaving Lene to give birth alone and struggle through the war with a newborn baby daughter.

Savaged upon its release by critics, who baulked at Sanders-Brahms' bravely subjective take on recent history, Germany Pale Mother was heavily truncated for its limited cinema release. Now the BFI presents the film restored to its original length for the first time.

Special features on Blu-ray
• Newly remastered High Definition presentation
• Original theatrical trailer
• Germany Pale Mother – theatrical cut (Helma Sanders-Brahms, 1980, 123 mins): Blu-ray exclusive presentation of the shorter version
• Hermann mein Vater (Helma Sanders-Brahms, 1987, 57 mins): fascinating companion piece in which Sanders-Brahms accompanies her father to Normandy, where he was posted with occupying German forces in 1940-41
• Illustrated booklet with contributions by Anne Sanders, Erica Carter, Margaret Deriaz and Caren Willig; full film credits

Blu-ray product details
RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1205 / Cert 15
West Germany / 1980 / colour / German and French with optional English subtitles / 152 mins / aspect ratio 1.78:1 / BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / PCM mono audio (48k/24-bit)

Special features on DVD
• Newly remastered presentation of the original director’s cut
• Original theatrical trailer
• Hermann mein Vater (Helma Sanders-Brahms, 1987, 54 mins)
• Illustrated booklet with contributions by Anne Sanders, Erica Carter, Margaret Deriaz and Caren Willig; full film credits

DVD product details
RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIV2038 / Cert 15
West Germany / 1980 / colour / German and French with optional English subtitles / 146 mins / aspect ratio 1.78:1 (16x9 enhanced) / DVD9 / Dolby Digital 1.0 mono audio (192kbps)

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2015 9:57 am**

Sounds definitive. It's looking like the year of the BFI right now!

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:03 am**

TMDaines wrote:Sounds definitive. It's looking like the year of the BFI right now!

They are having a very good year, aren't they?

And this is an even more unexpected surprise given the cuts that the BFI has had to absorb over the last few years.

Posted: **Tue May 26, 2015 7:54 pm**

Digital Fix

Posted: **Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:10 am**

Belatedly caught up on this release, and really enjoyed it. The additional footage is fascinating, and Hermann mein Vater is an essential and moving companion piece to the film itself.

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