17-year-old Effi Briest is forced into a loveless marriage with the elderly Baron von Instetten. Living as the aristocrat’s trophy wife, Effi endures her provincial existence unhappily. Because of her husband’s constant traveling, she finds companionship with Major Crampas, a charismatic womanizer.

One of Fassbinder’s many superb literary adaptations (including Genet’s Querelle and Nabokov’s Despair), the German auteur takes Fontane’s 1985 novel to the screen with mischievous grace. Regular collaborator Hanna Schygulla perfectly embodies the tragic heroine of this ravishing episodic melodrama.