Marianne and Juliane

Marianne and Juliane
German film poster
Die bleierne Zeit (Germany)
Directed by	Margarethe von Trotta
Produced by	Eberhard Junkersdorf
Written by	Margarethe von Trotta
Starring	Jutta Lampe Barbara Sukowa
Release date	1981
Running time	106 minutes
Country	West Germany
Language	German

Marianne and Juliane (German: Die bleierne Zeit; lit. "The Leaden Time" or "Leaden Times"), also called The German Sisters in the United Kingdom, is a 1981 West German film directed by Margarethe von Trotta. The screenplay is a fictionalized account of the true lives of Christiane and Gudrun Ensslin. Gudrun, a member of The Red Army Faction, was found dead in her prison cell in Stammheim in 1977. In the film, Von Trotta depicts the two sisters Juliane (Christine) and Marianne (Gudrun) through their friendship and journey to understanding each other. Marianne and Juliane was von Trotta's third film and solidified her position as a director of the New German Cinema.

Marianne and Juliane also marked the first time that von Trotta worked with Barbara Sukowa. They would go on to work on six more films together.

Two sisters, both dedicated to women's civil rights, fight for the same cause, although in very different ways. The story is interspersed with flashbacks into the sisters' childhood.

The sisters choose diverging paths of rebellion against the system. Juliane works as a feminist journalist rallying for a woman’s right to abortion while Marianne commits herself to a violent revolutionary terrorist group. The film quickly informs us that Marianne has abandoned her husband and child to work for a radical terrorist group. Her husband arrives at Julianne's house and states that Juliane must take Jan (their son) because the husband has to leave the country for work. Juliane is not supportive of her sister’s choices because she feels that they are damaging to the women’s movement. She informs the husband that she does not have time to care for the child. Next the husband steps out to “go get something”, promising to return, but instead takes his life leaving Jan without a guardian.

Marianne shows up on the scene to discuss her political views with her sister and urge her to join the movement. Juliane informs her of her husband’s suicide and of her intent to find a foster home for Jan. Marianne asks her sister to watch over Jan but Juliane replies “you would have me take on the life that you chose to leave”. Basically stating “so what’s not good enough for you is good enough for me”. Juliane sticks by her guns and refuses to take on Jan. This fact still does not stop Marianne from continuing on in the movement. She is content to allow Jan to have the life that will be dealt to him through foster care because she believes that “any life he has in foster care will be better than the life many children have in third world countries.” The sister’s paths continue to cross as Marianne bursts in unannounced to her sister’s life. The last time that Juliane sees her sister before she is arrested, Marianne wakes her and her long-term boyfriend up at 3 a.m. and wants to make coffee and take Juliane’s clothes. Soon afterward, we discover that Marianne has been arrested and is being held in a high security prison. Juliane goes to visit her sister. When she arrives at the prison she is ordered to strip down and is searched. Then she is let into the waiting room and told to wait for her sister. The guard returns and informs her that Marianne refuses to see her.