The Venus Trap

A doctor is torn between three fabulously beautiful women in 1980ies Berlin with one oneiric sequence chasing the other -- and that's about it. It's the type of movie that can make an impression on you if you're watching it on the silver screen, but seen on the small screen of your boob tube it's simply not enough to capture and hold your imagination. Director Robert von Ackeren is a great stylist and has, in many ways, made one of the quintessential 1980ies movies: cold, glossy surfaces and sulphurous emotions in a city that looks more like metropolis than modern Berlin, and not much in the way of story, plot or narration.

At the time of its release this movie was considered notorious, and Sonja Kirchberger was the talk of the town -- or rather, publicity photos of her flashing her boobs in that négligé were sprawled over magazine covers. Rather childishly, most professional critics seem to have taken umbrage against the fact that Kirchberger wasn't a professional actress but -- so the legend went -- a mere dental technician who was "scouted" by the director in some furniture catalog. Oh my god, an actress who's had a real job -- let's heat up the pyre! Another criticism seems to have been that the movie's visual style wasn't gritty and realistic enough -- which is also way off point, like criticizing a Vietnam war movie for not containing enough scenes with werewolves.

Overall, the movie really lacks some sort of plot, it's mostly a bold, superficial vision of a neon-lit world where all women are gorgeous and prey on men. It would be interesting to see what von Ackeren can do with a good script.