Hanna Schygulla

Hanna Schygulla (; born 25 December 1943) is a German actress and chanson singer best known for her work with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. She first worked with Fassbinder in 1965 and became an active participant in the New German Cinema. Schygulla won the 1979 Silver Bear for Best Actress for Fassbinder's The Marriage of Maria Braun, and the 1983 Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for the Marco Ferreri film The Story of Piera.

Early life Schygulla was born in Königshütte (later Chorzów, Poland) to German parents Antonie ( Mzyk) and Joseph Schygulla. Much later, in the 1960s, Schygulla studied Romance languages and German studies, while taking acting lessons in Munich during her spare time.

Career

Acting eventually became her focus, and she became particularly known for her film work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder. During the making of Effi Briest (1974), an adaptation of a German novel by Theodor Fontane, Fassbinder and Schygulla fell out over divergent interpretations of the character. Another issue for Schygulla was low pay, and she led a revolt against Fassbinder during the making of Effi Briest, shot in September 1972 some time before its commercial release. His response was typically blunt: "I can't stand the sight of your face any more. You bust my balls". They did not work together again for several years until The Marriage of Maria Braun in 1978. The film was entered into the 29th Berlin International Film Festival, where she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance. In 1980 she acted in Fassbinder's miniseries adaptation of Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Schygulla starred alongside Bruno Ganz in Volker Schlöndorff's Circle of Deceit (1981), and with Isabelle Huppert in Jean-Luc Godard's Passion (1982). She was a member of the jury at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival in 1987.

In the 1990s, she became a Chanson singer. In Juliane Lorenz's documentary film Life, Love and Celluloid (1998), on Fassbinder and related topics, Schygulla performs several songs.

Schygulla appeared in the Béla Tarr film Werckmeister Harmonies (2000), and in VB51 (2002), a performance by the artist Vanessa Beecroft. Five years later, she appeared in the film The Edge of Heaven, directed by Fatih Akın. She also appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's film Fassbinder's Women (2000).

In 2007, she received the Honorary Award from the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and in 2010 she received the Honorary Golden Bear from the Berlin Film Festival. She acted in the Alexander Sokurov film Faust (2011) and in the French drama film The Prayer (2018) by Cédric Kahn. It was screened in the main competition section at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival.

Schygulla lived in Paris from 1981 to 2014, then moved to Berlin.

Filmography

Hunting Scenes from Bavaria (1969), as Paula Love is Colder than Death (1969), as Johanna Katzelmacher (1969), as Marie (1969), as Maria Gods of the Plague (1970), as Johanna Reiher Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (1970), as Hanna (1970, TV film), as Johanna Rio das Mortes (1971, TV film), as Hanna Mathias Kneissl (1971), as Mathilde Schreck (1971, TV film), as Berta Whity (1971), as Hanna Beware of a Holy Whore (1971), as Hanna, actress Jakob von Gunten (1971, TV film), as Lisa Benjamenta The Merchant of Four Seasons (1972), as Anna Epp / Hans's single sister The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), as Karin Thimm Eight Hours Don't Make a Day (1972–1973, TV miniseries), as Marion Andreas Effi Briest (1974), as Effi Briest The Wrong Move (1975), as Therese Farner The Clown (1976), as Marie The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), as Maria Braun The Third Generation (1979), as Susanne Gast (1979, TV miniseries), as Frau Piesch Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980, TV miniseries), as Eva Lili Marleen (1981), as Willie Circle of Deceit (1981), as Ariane Nassar That Night in Varennes (1982), as Countess Sophie de la Borde Passion (1982), as Hanna Antonieta (1982), as Anna The Story of Piera (1983), as Eugenia Sheer Madness (1983), as Olga A Love in Germany (1983), as Paulina Kropp The Future is Woman (1984), as Anna Peter the Great (1986, TV miniseries), as Catherine Skevronskaya The Delta Force (1986), as Ingrid Harding (Stewardess) Barnum (1986, TV Film) as Jenny Lind Casanova (1987, TV film), as Casanova's Mother Forever, Lulu (1987), as Elaine Miss Arizona (1988), as Rozsnyai Mici The Summer of Miss Forbes (1989, TV film), as Mrs. Forbes Abraham's Gold (1990), as Barbara 'Bärbel' Hunzinger Aventure de Catherine C. (1990), as Fanny Hohenstein Dead Again (1991), as Inga Golem, l'esprit de l'exil (1992), as L'Esprit de l'Exil Warsaw – Year 5703 (1992), as Stefania Bukowska Gibellina, Metamorphosis of a Melody (1992) Madame Bäurin (1993), as Tante Agathe The Blue Exile (1993), as The Actress Golem, le jardin pétrifié (1993), as Michelle Aux petits bonheurs (1993), as Lena Hey Stranger (1994), as Tania A Hundred and One Nights (1995), as La seconde ex-épouse de M. Cinéma Pakten (1995), as Ewa Loehwe Lea (1996), as Wanda Metamorphosis of a Melody (1996), as Spirit of Exile Chronique (1997), as La femme du restaurant The Girl of Your Dreams (1998), as Magda Goebbels Black Out p.s. Red Out (1998), as Martha Hanna Schygulla Sings (1999) Werckmeister Harmonies (2000), as Tünde Eszter Promised Land (2004), as Hanna (2005), as Frau Marx Vendredi ou un autre jour (2005), as La dame patronnesse de l'équipage Winter Journey (2006), as Martha "Mucky" Brenninger The Edge of Heaven (2007), as Susanne / Lotte's mother Faust (2011), as Moneylender's 'Wife' Avanti (2002), as Suzanne Lullaby to My Father (2012) Vijay and I (2013), as Will's mother The Quiet Roar (2014), as Eva Things to come (2014) Unless (2016), as Danielle Westerman Fortunata (2017), as Lotte The Prayer (2018), as Soeur Myriam The Mystery of Henri Pick (2019), as Ludmila Blavitsky Everything Went Fine (2021) Peter von Kant (2022) Poor Things (2023), as Martha Von Kurtzroc Yunan (2025) as Valeska