Maria a red rose each month to remind her he still loves her. Following Oswald's death, Hermann returns to Germany and to Maria. When Oswald's will is read by Senkenberg, the executor, Maria hears about Oswald's agreement with Hermann. Distressed, Maria and Hermann briefly argue about how they supposedly sacrificed through their whole life for each other, then she goes into the kitchen to light a cigarette from the burner of the stovetop. Maria is offscreen as Hermann is seen watching her, when he lurches away and screams "Nein". Before this, Maria had left the gas stove opened after lighting up a cigarette in the same place. A moment later, the apartment suffers a gas explosion from the stove, killing Maria and Hermann. Cast Production Writing and pre-production The idea for The Marriage of Maria Braun can be traced to the collaboration of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Alexander Kluge on the unrealized television project The Marriage of our Parents (Die Ehen unserer Eltern), which was developed after the critical success of the omnibus film Germany in Autumn. Fassbinder worked on a draft screenplay together with Klaus-Dieter Lang and Kurt Raab and presented it in the early summer of 1977 to his longtime collaborator Peter Märthesheimer, who at that time was working as a dramaturge at the Bavaria Film Studios. In August 1977, Märthesheimer and his partner Pea Fröhlich, a professor of psychology and pedagogics, were commissioned to write a screenplay based on the draft together. Although it was Märthesheimer's and Fröhlich's first screenplay their knowledge of Fassbinder's works allowed them to match the screenplay to the characteristic style and structure of Fassbinder's other works. Fassbinder changed only a few details in the completed screenplay, including some dialogue and the end of the film. Instead of Maria Braun committing suicide in a car accident she dies in a gas explosion, leaving it unclear whether she committed suicide or died accidentally. The producer of the film was Fassbinder's longtime collaborator Michael Fengler with his production company Albatros Filmproduktion. Fengler planned to start shooting the film in the first half of 1978, as Fassbinder's next project Berlin Alexanderplatz was scheduled for June. As Fassbinder was embroiled in a controversy over his stage play Der Müll, die Stadt und der Tod he was not ready for starting to shoot the film and withdrew to Paris, where he worked on the screenplay for Berlin Alexanderplatz.