Somewhat dissatisfying

This is more of a disappointment to me than expected for a movie by Fassbinder.
Because he was a great artist, always in overdrive. And so seems Maria.

But overall, there is too much of dunking into scenes purportedly during and after the war, that contribute too little to what the topic seems to be. I for one would have rather seen more of the development - change - of the personality of Maria Braun. [And it happens rarely that I feel, I should say how I would have preferred things.]

The plot a such is interesting, and comes across in a depressing manner. As if there was no way out except of cheating, lying, adultery, theft and murder. As if 'being rich' would make life worthwhile. That it doesn't, that is what we see.
The bright light, somewhat, to me is the deception that Maria can't stand in the end: She used to be the great deceiver, and finally it was her who was deceived, by Oswald and her husband.

Once being married and her husband off to war, she built a strange set of 'lives' for herself, the loving woman, the truthful woman waiting for her husband to return, the bar-maid, the cheating woman, the murdering woman (though she might not have intended murder, and yet something sinister), the wonna-get-rich woman, the rich woman in the end. And she put up a straw-woman trying to convince herself to love her husband. She portrays a great deal of scenes, when she insists on being in power. At the end, she finds out how little she actually was in power.

Maria is a deeply heartless person, playing up and playing things for herself, trying to feel relevant. Therefore the 'great' gesture in the end of 'making a contract that everything belongs to her husband'. When, actually, he is the one who already owns half of it. To her dismay. And that's one of the many moments when she shows her shallowness and her self-love only.

Oh, and despite of the great acting, the role of Oswald has not been able to convince me.

(or should this go into a new thread?: Why does Hermann yell: Nooooo!!!! towards the end? He can't know what has been building up in the kitchen, can he?)