My Sister Maria (2002) is a semi-documentary on dvd from actor Maximilian Schell about his elder sister, the late Maria Schell, whose international fame, talent and fragility are captured in this moving, and, to me, somewhat disturbing movie. As he demonstrated in his excellent 1984 documentary about Marlene Dietrich, Schell deeply appreciates the talent of these actresses. Unlike in the earlier doc, in which Dietrich refused to be photographed and only provided a voice-over, Schell photographs his sister without flinching, showing her dementia and her flashes of clarity interwoven with the most engaging parts of the film, showing her acting ability.
Maria Schell, who died in 2005, had a vibrant, fragile quality that made her international appearances in such films as The Heart of the Matter (1952), Visconti's adaptation of Dostoyevsky in Le Notti Bianche (1957), Hollywood's version of The Brothers Karamazov (1958), The Hanging Tree (1959) and Cimarron (1960) memorable experiences. However, the viewer is truly tantalized by the inclusion of several wonderful clips from her European cinematic triumphs such as The Angel With a Trumpet (1950), and Gervaise(1956) and the sight of such fine actors as Marcello Mastroianni, Oskar Werner and Curt Jurgens opposite her in some of these films. Her blonde luminosity, beautiful eyes and smile helped to make her an international star for a brief time, all the while, apparently struggling with some personal mental health demons that are only hinted at in this sometimes annoyingly enigmatic film.
My discomfort with the film comes in the sequences in which Maximilian Schell, who clearly loves his sister, also expresses irritation with her profligate spending, (probably caused by her arterial flow problems to her brain, which are only alluded to and never fully explained), especially when he is compelled to sell one of his Mark Rothko paintings to cover her debts and save, (literally) the family farm. Given his ill sister's obvious problems, I was troubled by the scenes in which Max sort of grills his sister about her past choices in life. Her little half-smile throughout these sequences seems to imply that she's going along with the pretense of this documentary, indulging her little brother a bit with affection. My patience with this film almost snapped when Max also insists—allegedly for her own good--on having the 70-something woman walk for exercise on an icy mountain trail in order to stimulate her mentally and physically. Sorry, but this expectation seems wildly inappropriate given the fact that it's the middle of winter, and watching an older lady fall down in the snow is not high on my must-see or want-to-see list. It makes me want to look for the Elder Abuse hotline number. Or at least to take ol' Max by the shoulders, give him a good shake, and tell him to get real.
Don't get me wrong. The film was wonderful to see, especially since Maria Schell's movies are rarely shown on American tv and fewer than expected are on dvd. Her glorious talent is there on film. I didn't need to see her dignity and privacy invaded, even if Maximilian Schell did want to recoup his losses after kissing his Rothko goodbye. By the way, when asked, on one of her good days, who she most enjoyed working with, her answer was "Gary Cooper. His serenity and authority no matter what the circumstances made me feel safe. I loved him." Would that Coop could've been there to help you at the end, Maria.