When her father suddenly dies, ‘daddy's girl' Martha finds herself at a loose end, with just an uncaring mother for company Martha finds the paternalistic structure and comfort she craves from the enigmatic and controlling Helmuth, but once married, she finds her freedoms more and more constrained by her sadistic and tyrannical husband. Taking his cues from the Technicolor melodramas from the 1950's, Fassbinder creates a sumptuous and often darkly comic portrayal of a women trapped in a pattern of subjugation and submission. Congratulations: Your vote has been cast