A Woman in Flames (film)
Encyclopedia
A Woman in Flames is a German
drama film
from 1983, directed by Robert van Ackeren
, starring Gudrun Landgrebe
, Mathieu Carrière
, and Hanns Zischler. The running time is (104 minutes).
husband. She is drawn to the idea of becoming a call girl
. With the aid of a prostitute named Yvonne, Eva learns the basics and then they both set out looking for Johns together. She meets a charming man who she falls in love with and comes to his house late at night for a romantic tryst. He turns out to be a gigolo. Consequently, they move into his penthouse, large enough for both of them to offer their services separately.
Then slowly Eva enters the world of sado-masochism. She finds being a dominatrix
extremely satisfying, and begins to take pleasure in controlling others and causing them intense pain. She discovers this in a scene in which a man is hiding under a table. Eva can see that his hands are sticking out from under the table and are clearly visible. Coldly, and with intense inner satisfaction, Eva proceeds to crush the man's hands by slowly walking over them with her stiletto-heeled
boots.
Chris, the gigolo begins getting jealous of her, wants to know what's going on upstairs and why she's making so much money. She tells him it's from hurting men, and the more she hurts them, the more money she gets. This upsets him greatly. She also becomes jealous of his boyfriend/client, a man who's been coming to him for many years. The scenes in the upstairs room intensify. One day he sneaks up and observers her in a scene dominating a man tied to a chair. He has a look on his face like "see, this is what you truly are," and the look on her face says proudly "yes, this is what I truly am." He tries to whisk her away from all of it, buying her furs, talking about marriage. She tells him that she's been dreaming about hitting him, and in the dream he likes it.
The setting is all there for a romantic ending, and yet, he panics, he takes all their money and invests it in a restaurant that she doesn't want to be part of. She tries to walk out on him, and he gets angry, throws her against the wall, hits her, pours alcohol on her, and lights her on fire.
But the last scene shows her unscathed, happy with her friend the sex worker/madame, and they're getting thrown out of a bar that Chris owns.
The movie thus extols female independence from men, though in its ending stops short of endorsing a female-dominant/male-submissive romance.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
from 1983, directed by Robert van Ackeren
Robert van Ackeren
Robert van Ackeren is a German movie director, actor, producer, writer and cinematographer, born in 22 December 1946, West Berlin, West Germany.-Filmography :* Deutschland privat - Im Land der bunten Träume...
, starring Gudrun Landgrebe
Gudrun Landgrebe
Gudrun Landgrebe is a German actress.Landgrebe was born in Göttingen, grew up in Bochum, and attended theatre school in Cologne from 1968 until 1971. In 1971 she made her debut at Stadttheater Bielefeld. She also appeared in Heimat as the character Klärchen Sisse...
, Mathieu Carrière
Mathieu Carrière
Mathieu Carrière is a German actor.Carrière grew up in Berlin and Lübeck; he attended the Jesuit boarding school Lycée Saint-François-Xavier in Vannes, France, a school which had previously been attended by the director of Carrière's first major film, Volker Schlöndorff. In 1969 Carrière moved to...
, and Hanns Zischler. The running time is (104 minutes).
Plot summary
Eva, an upper class housewife, becomes frustrated and leaves her arroganthusband. She is drawn to the idea of becoming a call girl
Call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who is not visible to the general public; nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency...
. With the aid of a prostitute named Yvonne, Eva learns the basics and then they both set out looking for Johns together. She meets a charming man who she falls in love with and comes to his house late at night for a romantic tryst. He turns out to be a gigolo. Consequently, they move into his penthouse, large enough for both of them to offer their services separately.
Then slowly Eva enters the world of sado-masochism. She finds being a dominatrix
Dominatrix
Dominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...
extremely satisfying, and begins to take pleasure in controlling others and causing them intense pain. She discovers this in a scene in which a man is hiding under a table. Eva can see that his hands are sticking out from under the table and are clearly visible. Coldly, and with intense inner satisfaction, Eva proceeds to crush the man's hands by slowly walking over them with her stiletto-heeled
Stiletto heel
A stiletto heel is a long, thin, high heel found on some boots and shoes, usually for women. It is named after the stiletto dagger, the phrase being first recorded in the early 1930s...
boots.
Chris, the gigolo begins getting jealous of her, wants to know what's going on upstairs and why she's making so much money. She tells him it's from hurting men, and the more she hurts them, the more money she gets. This upsets him greatly. She also becomes jealous of his boyfriend/client, a man who's been coming to him for many years. The scenes in the upstairs room intensify. One day he sneaks up and observers her in a scene dominating a man tied to a chair. He has a look on his face like "see, this is what you truly are," and the look on her face says proudly "yes, this is what I truly am." He tries to whisk her away from all of it, buying her furs, talking about marriage. She tells him that she's been dreaming about hitting him, and in the dream he likes it.
The setting is all there for a romantic ending, and yet, he panics, he takes all their money and invests it in a restaurant that she doesn't want to be part of. She tries to walk out on him, and he gets angry, throws her against the wall, hits her, pours alcohol on her, and lights her on fire.
But the last scene shows her unscathed, happy with her friend the sex worker/madame, and they're getting thrown out of a bar that Chris owns.
The movie thus extols female independence from men, though in its ending stops short of endorsing a female-dominant/male-submissive romance.