Affengeil
| Affengeil | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Rosa von Praunheim |
| Screenplay by | Eva Ebner Lotti Huber Rosa von Praunheim |
| Produced by | Rosa von Praunheim |
| Starring | Lotti Huber Rosa von Praunheim Helga Sloop Gertrud Mischwitky |
| Cinematography | Klaus Janschewsky Mike Kuchar |
| Edited by | Mike Shephard |
| Music by | Marran Gosov Thomas Marquard |
Production company | Exportfilm Bischoff |
| Distributed by | First Run Features |
Release date | 27 October 1990 |
Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | West Germany |
| Language | German |
Affengeil (German: Affengeil: eine Reise durch Lottis Leben) is a 1990 German documentary film directed by Rosa von Praunheim. The film recounts the eventful life of Lotti Huber, a dancer, actress and cabaret performer, who was the star of the director’s previous films: Anita: Dances of Vice and Our Corpses Are Still Alive. [1]
The film consists of extended interviews with Huber using photographs, film clips and field trips to recreate her life. The ten year professional relationship between the film director and his subject is explored. Rosa von Praunheim appears arguing about the control of the direction of the film as Hubert insist to be portrayed "Just as I am"[1]
Plot
Lotti Huber, in her late seventies at the time of filming, is a short, chubby flamboyant old lady of remarkable vivacity. Appearing wearing large hoop earrings and dramatic makeup, she recounts vividly important events and successes of her life. At the beginning of the film, she demands from Praunheim to make a documentary about her.
Huber was born in Kiel in northwestern Germany and grew up in Weimar. Her mother inflected in her a sense of independence and a love for studies. At age 16 she fell in love with the son of the mayor of her town. As she was Jewish and he was Aryan, their relationship ran against racial Nazi ideology. Her boyfriend was arrested and shot by the Nazis while she was sent to a concentration camp from which she escaped. The details of her flight are so fabulously incredible, she claims, that she refrains from telling that story.
After the war she traveled extensively: Palestine, Egypt, Cyprus and London. By age 27 she was living in Israel, where she developed a successful career as an exotic dancer. She later opened and operated a hotel and restaurant in Cyprus, something unusual for a woman to do in that time and place. She did not return to Germany until the 1960s when, she established a charm school in Berlin. She later spent several years demonstrating products in a department store. In one scene, she is shown teaching belly-dancing to middle-aged women. While she had several marriages, she worked as cabaret performer, dancer, restaurateur, teacher, model, movie extra and finally actress starring in two films directed by Rosa von Prauunheim. Their ten year professional relationship is shown as bickering. Praunehim question the veracity of some of Hubert’s incredible tales and Lotti appears asking the director’s mother about her son’s homosexuality.
Notes
References
- Murray, Raymond. Images in the Dark: An Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Film and Video Guide. TLA Publications, 1994, ISBN 1880707012