Die Venusfalle (1988)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Robert van Ackeren

Writers:

Catharina Zwerenz (writer)
Robert van Ackeren (writer)

Release Date:

8 September 1988 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Max is insatiable when it comes to women. Although he already has a fiancée, he begins a relationship with a young woman and seduces several others.

Plot Keywords:

Female Frontal Nudity | Coitus | Sex | Breasts | Libertine

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Myriem Roussel	...	Marie
Horst-Günter Marx	...	Max
Sonja Kirchberger	...	Coco
Hanns Zischler	...	Kurt
Rolf Zacher	...	Dr. Steiner
Herb Andress
Harry Baer
Walter Busch
Susanne Baeumer
Carsta Van Deyck
Anna Kindl
Sabine Kueckelmann
Renate Langer
Carmen Lentz
Christiane Maybach

Also Known As:

The Venus Trap

Runtime:

Germany:107 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:11 | West Germany:16 | Australia:M

Company:

M+P Film

haunting

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

There is one insane fact about this movie i have come upon. once someone sees it he becomes hopelessly in love with the film and tries to hide its existence from the rest of the world. i can't put any other film that so captures the magic that is falling in love. it gets to the point that the box description makes the movie sound bad. people just don't want you to see it.

just to get you on the concept. a guy has the perfect life - he has a successful clinic and is going to marry the perfect wife. one day he makes a phone call, dials the wrong number, the woman on the other side says "hello" and he knows she is the love of his life. torn between his perfect life and this unrealistic notion that he should ruin them for the woman he never saw, he wanders around the streets and tries to make sense or just lose himself. this is the point where the movie begins.

its a powerful investigation of the "Venus trap" - the insanity of falling in love out of the blue that made the Greeks create a goddess for it. people that i have spoken with who have seen that movie tend to view their life and their love-life differently afterwards. there is something in it that haunts you.

-- slight spoilers for second viewing (nothing lethal) --





the movie is an experience to watch. many things, including lights and make-up change dependent on the main character's presence. the best example is his wife. you can spend the entire film thinking she's some vulgar cow, until the scenes where she's without him. the opposite example of course is the symmetry that happens whenever you put the intended lovers in the same shot. these motives would have been considered simple gimmicks in a Hollywood film, but here they work subconsciously into bringing you into the Venus trap.