Dorothee, a would-be writer and journalist, leaves Germany for the Oz of San Francisco, searching for her long-lost mother and a cure for the malady of love. Installed in the Tenderloin, she peeps in on neighbors’ bizarre sex rituals, as well as doing some sightseeing of the more traditional kind. But her encounters with male impersonator Ramona, charming Hungarian bohemian Dominique, and Susie Sexpert, barker for an all-girl strip show, lead to exploratory adventures of self-discovery and fun. When Dorothy surfaces like a dazzled tourist on the wilder shores of the city’s lesbian community, she has discovered her true sexuality…and left some illusions behind.
“If the film’s sexual politics relate Treut to Fassbinder – it’s like
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant without the angst and melodrama – the black-and-white look of the film harks to the velvet of Germany’s glory days, the expressionist films of the 20s.” –John Harkness,
NOW Magazine
Presented as part of the film series
Female Misbehavior: The Films of Monika Treut and Elfi Mikesch, in collaboration with Anthology Film Archives and Salzgeber Club
Die Jungfrauenmaschine
Dir. Monika Treut
1988, 84 minutes, 35mm-to-DCP
Cinematography: Elfi Mikesch
With Ina Blum, Shelly Mars, Mona Mur, Dominique Gaspar, Gad Klein, Susie Sexpert, Peter Kern
Back
