Stefan Menche Movies

This black-and-white film was created by the low-budget wonder Lothar Lambert, who manages to produce, write, direct, (and often shoot) his films with the least assistance possible. Here, eight short pieces tell stories exposing people's frailties and foolishness. In one scene, two middle-class housewives stand in front of a porno house chit-chatting, while one of their husbands sneaks into one of them. In another, one man is putting the pick-up moves on another after doing everything in his power to make sure that the object of his intentions shares his particular sexual tastes, no doubt very esoteric ones. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In another Berlin underground farce from Lothar Lambert, the popular 1970's and '80s director/writer/actor focuses his sights on Gerhard, a buttoned-down bank clerk (played by Lambert) desperately in need of liberation. The poor man is hounded by his sister and a lustful neighbor and seems trapped in his life until Hans (Hans Marquardt), another bank employee, convinces Gerhard to come along to a big transvestite club to watch him and others perform. Gerhard goes -- and his evening out becomes the hot topic for the staid bank employees the next day. Undaunted, Gerhard decides to go back to the club and join in the performances after some serious practice in front of a mirror -- and he not only comes out of the closet, but runs wildly rampant through the neighborhood, taking down society's taboos as he goes along. Parents who supervise their young children's viewing should take note that much of Lambert's humor derives from very adult situations, and perhaps less-than-adult attitudes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Lothar Lambert wrote, directed, produced, photographed, and edited this avant-garde film in the primitive "naive" genre, which stars, along with other local Belin talent, Beate Meitner as Ulrike "S." Bern Lubowski is Ulrike's ex-husband, a man who abuses her until she finally leaves him, and Christoph Wellemeyer plays her younger son whose mission in life is to torment his mother. In addition to mistreatment at the hands of men who are the closest to her, Ulrike suffers through three operations on one eye, and a temporary boyfriend who is a crashing bore. This combination of intolerables puts her on the edge of a nervous breakdown, yet when she seeks help from psychiatrists and doctors they also fail her, needing help themselves. Ulrike has sexual desires that are detailed in nude scenes, but she is the nightmare lady of the film's title, with real nightmares at night and the makings of nightmares during the day. All these elements combine in the end, to bring her story to its emotive conclusion. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi