Der Bewegte Mann
Germany,
1994, 93 min
Shown in 1995
CREDITS
- dir
-
Sönke Wortmann
- prod
-
Bernd Eichinger, Martin Moskowicz
- scr
-
Sönke Wortmann
- cam
-
Gernot Roll
- editor
-
Ueli Christen
- cast
-
Til Scheweiger, Karja Riemann, Joachim Krol
- source
-
Atlas International Film
OTHER
Germany’s biggest domestic hit of 1994, Pretty Baby is a side-splitting comedy destined for the Hall of Sexual Fame. The title refers to Axel—an open-minded heterosexual who has cheated on his girlfriend Doro one too many times. When Doro finds Axel having sex with another woman inside a bathroom stall, he is forced to the streets and finds himself at the apartment of Norbert—a homosexual friend of a friend. As Axel quickly enters the gay scene of contemporary Germany, Pretty Baby offers piercing commentary on masculinity and sex. In the film’s absurd, verging-on-erotic situations, director Sönke Wortmann provides us with the eavesdropper’s perspective on conversations where men—both straight and gay—talk about other men in overtly sexual ways. When Norbert’s queenie friend Waltraud attends a “Straight Men’s Support Group” as the gay man who can teach them about gayness, hilarious dialogue highlights a film rich with insightful sexual characterizations. As the narrative unfolds, Axel finds spending time with Norbert and his drag queen friends both fun and liberating—so liberating that Doro suspects that Axel is actually gay. The results are a sophisticated, whimsical film—one informed by a wacky warmth and a pleasing narrative world.
—Marc Smolowitz
FACTOID #257
Funny Girl was selected by the San Francisco Film International to receive the Samuel Goldwyn Award as the best picture made in the U.S. in 1968. Star Barbara Streisand and producer Ray Stark attended the Festival to pick up the award.
