Martha is a 1974 drama film made for West German television directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Martha Heyer, a virginal 31-year-old librarian, is on vacation in Rome with her cold father, a fastidious man who refuses to be touched.

Martha's mother, an alcoholic, takes openly to drinking, tranquilizers and drawing mustaches on old photographs of her deceased husband.

Martha turns down an offer of marriage from her boss at the library, who immediately proposes to her colleague, Erna.

During the wedding celebration, Martha is formally introduced to Helmut Salomon, a wealthy civil engineer, who was the man with whom she crossed glances leaving the German embassy.

On their first conversation outside the party, Helmut insults her by detailing her physical shortcomings, and Martha meekly accepts these as fact and rewards him with a kiss.

Martha's mother, in a hysterical reaction to the news that her daughter intends to marry, swallows an overdose of pills and collapses to the floor.

Helmut, in addition to starting to control Martha's diet, refuses to allow her to apply suntan oil, which results in her getting severely sunburned.

Martha wakes up in the hospital and learns that Kaiser died in the accident and that she herself will be paralyzed for life in her lower body.

[1] Fassbinder had more than his usual budget and this allowed him to film the Italian scenes and to incorporate an elaborate camera style with some creative visual effects like the circular dolly shot, when Martha and Helmut first cross paths in Rome.