Name: Lovemaker
Genre: Drama
Released: 1969-11-21
Duration: 1 h 39 min
Rating: 6.4
Cast: Antonio Sabato, Doris Kunstmann, Roger Fritz

Italian-German Sex Comedy with Doris KUNSTMANN and Antonio SABATO

Unjustly forgotten erotic drama with Antonio Sabato and Doris Kunstmann

This Italian-German film by Ugo Liberatore was released in Italian cinemas on November 21, 1969. Unfortunately, in German-speaking countries it was only shown in cinemas in 2018 at the TERZA ViSIONE festival (festival for Italian genre films in Frankfurt am Main). It is open to speculation as to why, despite the participation of Artur Brauner's CCC film, it was not released in cinemas in German-speaking countries. It was expressly not due to a lack of quality.

The two night owls Christiane (Doris Kunstmann, born in Hamburg in 1944 and in those years in a relationship with director Ugo Liberatore) and Helga (Christiane Krüger, born in Hamburg in 1945 as the daughter of the future global star and GOLDEN GLOBE nominee Hardy Krüger) are already heavily drunk with their friends Fraternity friends Klaus (Roger Fritz, born in Mannheim in 1936) and Hans (Peter Kraus, born in Munich in 1939, yes Cornelia Froboess' RocknRoller!) are out and about in downtown Munich. At the gigantic construction site on Marienplatz, the bored Christiane provokes an unpleasant argument with an Italian construction worker, who is beaten up for no reason by her friends who rush over. Engineer Giorgio Marelli (Antonio Sabato, 1943-2021) intervenes and ends the argument. Both women are visibly impressed by the stunningly attractive Italian and flirt with him uninhibitedly, which of course doesn't please the two boys present at all. What is now beginning is like a tussle with prejudices on both sides. Despite their openly displayed contempt for all guest workers, both women get involved with the attractive Italian, who in turn uses his skills of seduction without considering the losses (Yvonne Ten Hoff in particular suffers from this as the slightly younger Liselotte). Giorgio allows himself to be guided too much by his prejudices against the seemingly arrogant Germans.

This very intelligent film allows two different cultures with their mutual clichés and prejudices to collide. Neither side comes out well. Well cast and very convincingly acted!

As a contemporary document, this film is also worth watching again (see it on YT under the Italian title "L uomo per fare l amore"). At the time of filming, the city of Munich was virtually being rebuilt for the 1972 Summer Olympics. The mega construction site for the subway station at Munich's Marienplatz is, so to speak, another main character in this film, which is well worth seeing and which urgently needs to be seen more by an interested audience.

Italian cinema has deeply influenced world cinema through its socially conscious realism and modernist experimentation, but it also flourished in popular genres like peplum (sword & sandal), giallo thrillers, and broad comedies. Its narratives often weave together politics, contemporary social change, class consciousness, and family dynamics, balancing artistic ambition with entertainment that resonated widely.

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The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)

The relationships of two members of an right-wing fraternity and their girlfriends fall apart when they meet an Italian guest worker whom no woman can resist.

Christiane Krüger and Doris Kunstmann in Lovemaker (1969)

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Lovemaker

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