Berryt Bohlen

Daniel, a young gay man, tries to pursue a traditional bourgeois relationship and lifestyle with his live-in boyfriend, but after their love quickly fades, he finds himself moving through different avenues of gay subculture, in pursuit of exotic pleasures.

This film is in effect a slideshow of exquisite single photographic images in sparkling black and white, representing Mikesch’s own version of Mary Stuart. “The drama of a woman who attempted a kind of liberal emancipation in a time of upheaval, but got caught in the snares of men,” in her words. Confronted with layers and layers of conflicting information about “how it really was” Mikesch decided not to try to be a historian, but to radicalise the narrative and condense it into striking images of passion, power, love, pain and death.

In this sequel to Die Bettwurst, Dietmar and Luzi are a somewhat unorthodox couple, who live and fight with tremendous enthusiasm. The unusual nature of their liaison is signalled by the fact that Dietmar is bisexual and is completely unable to remain faithful to Luzi. Dietmar also has his own, personal dialect of German. Luzi, on the other hand, is coziness personified. No matter, in this film they get married at the Memorial Church in Berlin. Infuriated at his playing around, Luzi briefly splits up with him, but when her dog dies of poisoning, he is there to comfort her.