settima

westgermany

Sweet Movie (Dušan Makavejev, 1974)

Sep

13

International Chocolate Day

Sweet Movie (1974)

The most virgin, Miss 1984 (Carole Laure), bathing in chocolate. DP: Pierre Lhomme.

Chocolate for International Chocolate Day (Milton S. Hershey's birthday)

“In all my years of practice, I've never seen anything so sweet. A rosebud.”

– Dr. Mittelfinger

Miss Canada, winner of the “most virgin” contest, escapes her rich, milk tycoon husband into a world of anarchy, lust, and sugar.

Die Delegation – Eine utopische Reportage [The Delegation] (Rainer Erler, 1970)

Sep

9

0 h 20 GMT

Die Delegation (1970)

Reporter Will Roczinski (Walter Kohut) picks up mysterieus signals through the ether (via). DP: Charly Steinberger.

We watch the final report by Will Roczinski, who sadly died in a car crash while working on a TV documentary about UFOs and the like. A fascinating early “faux footage” film from the BRD. One can only wonder how the average West German processed the fantastic premise.

Jaider, der einsame Jäger [Jaider, the Lonely Hunter] (Volker Vogeler, 1971)

Sep

5

Mother Teresa

Jaider, der einsame Jäger (1971)

Gottfried John as Jaider (via). DP: Gérard Vandenberg.

Mother Teresa's death day: someone assists the poor. A Heimatfilm in reverse and Italowestern in disguise.

“Denn auf den Bergen, ja da ist die Freiheit, denn auf den Bergen ist es doch so schön, dort wo auf grauenhafte Weise der Jennerwein zugrund mußt gehn.”

Jennerwein-Lied, 19th c.

Jaider, just returned home from the Franco-Prussian War and incapable to find work, turns to poaching to feed himself and his impoverished town. Soon he leads a gang of poachers, who in their turn are hunted by Bavarian soldiers and state-sanctioned hunters. Loosely based on legendary “Jaider” (“hunter”) and poacher Georg Jennerwein.

Taxi zum Klo (Frank Ripploh, 1980)

Sep

2

Christa McAuliffe 1948 – 1986

Taxi zum Klo (1980)

Frank (Frank Ripploh) teaching kids about the human body on an anatomy dummy. DP: Horst Schier.

A teacher for what would have been Christa McAuliffe's birthday.

“Ich mag Männer, bin 30 Jahre alt, von Beruf Lehrer.”

– Frank Ripploh

Frank Ripploh is a sexual ethics and biology teacher by day, and hedonistic gay man and aspiring pornographer by night. When Frank Ripploh, the man, publicly came out in 1978 in the tabloid Stern, he lost his teaching job and did become that filmmaker. Taxi zum Klo – litt. taxi to the john/loo – is his story. A frank pre-AIDS pre-Internet pre-victimhood depiction of male gay culture in West Germany. Maybe raw, possibly misogynist, definitely true to life.

La horse [Horse] (Pierre Granier-Deferre, 1970)

Aug

28

1923

La horse (1970)

Francis Grutti's (Armando Francioli) ID, handled by someone wielding a large stamp. His birthday is August 28, 1923. DP: Walter Wottitz.

Lola Montès (Max Ophüls, 1955)

Aug

14

Bavaria

Lola Montès (1955)

The crowned royal mistress on display in glorious Eastmancolor (via). DP: Christian Matras.

Celebrating Oktoberfest [in September/October] and the Bavarian royals [rip]: a royal character or family*

“The painter takes his time. He doesn't like her dress. He doesn't like her gloves. One day he asks her if she dares pose for him – all in pink. She dares! And the king, enraptured by her pose, offers her a palace!”

– circus master

Maria Dolores Porriz y Montez, Countess von Landsfeld, Lola Montès for short, now a circus attraction, once the mistress to Ludwig I, King of Bavaria. While her fellow circus performers play Lola's former lovers, the ringmaster tells her story.

 

Der Stand der Dinge [The State of Things] (Wim Wenders, 1982)

Aug

13

1942

Der Stand der Dinge (1982)

Friedrich Munro's (Patrick Bauchau) Hollywood, Ca address and date of birth: August 13, 1942. DPs: Henri Alekan, Fred Murphy & Martin Schäfer.

– You know, I take pictures, photographs, but I never really thought in black and white before I saw our rushes. Do you know what I mean? You can see the shape of things.   – Life is in colour, but black and white is more realistic.

Sinong lumikha ng yoyo? Sinong lumikha ng moon buggy? [Who Invented the Yoyo? Who Invented the Moon Buggy?] (Kidlat Tahimik, 1979)

Jul

20

1969

Sinong lumikha ng yoyo? Sinong lumikha ng moon buggy? (1979)

A Bavarian onion dome with the date July 20, 1969 superimposed over it. DP: Kidlat Tahimik.

“Fantastic! You are a first class dilettante!”

– Kidlat's proud parents

Götter der Pest [Gods of the Plague] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1970)

Jul

16

Götter der Pest (1970)

The Gorilla (Günther Kaufmann) and Franz (Harry Baer) reflected in the window of a deserted supermarket at night (via). DP: Dietrich Lohmann.

Someone complains about costs or prices*

– We'll go to an island and live from fishing and hunting. And the sun will shine and it will never rain. And we'll eat lobster and drink wine. – … – Why not? – Because it's too expensive. – Why too expensive? – It's just too expensive.

 

Bildnis einer Trinkerin – Aller jamais retour [Portrait of a Female Drunkard. Ticket of No Return] (Ulrike Ottinger, 1979)

Jul

15

Bildnis einer Trinkerin( (1979)

Sie, German for “she/her”, hungover in her fabulous yellow nappa leather outfit (via). DP: Ulrike Ottinger.

Someone is hungover*

“Ein Psychogramm zweier ungewöhnlicher, aber auch extrem unterschiedlicher Frauen. Die eine, reich, exzentrisch, ihre Gefühle maskenhaft verbergend, trinkt sich bewusst zu Tode. Sie ist der Fall, der in der Statistik nicht erscheint, weil entweder zu Hause unter Valium gehalten oder unter Verschluss in einer Privatklinik. Die andere ist arm und trinkt sich unbewusst zu Tode. Sie erscheint in der normalen Statistik als Typ der haltlosen Trinkerin”

– U.O., via

An eccentric woman simply named Sie (Tabea Blumenschein), takes a one-way trip to West Berlin. Accompanied by her alter ego, a homeless alcoholic, and commented on by a Greek choir consisting of Soziale Frage (Social Question), Exakte Statistik (Exact Statistics), and Gesunder Menschenverstand (Common Sense), she drinks herself to death.