Burning Beds
1988, narrative, 35mm, color, 83 min.
Written, directed, produced by, and starring: Pia Frankenberg
Camera: Raoul Coutard
Starring: Ian Dury
In German and English (with subtitles).
Co-production with broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Festivals: Berlinale, Cannes, Hof, audience prize and honorable mention from the jury at the Vevey International Funny Film Festival in Switzerland.
Distribution: Impuls Film. International sales: Exportfilm Bischoff (Deutsche Kinemathek Frankenberg archive)
Gina is German. It is common knowledge that a German man’s love of cars takes precedence over any interest in the opposite sex. Gina is fighting that habitude on two fronts. As an auto inspector for Germany’s technical standards agency TÜV, she is fond of taking revenge on man and his machines, and privately she has dedicated herself with singular passion to exploring the sexual revolution she missed. Whatever Gina does, she does it with all the rigor befitting a German.
“I´m British, my dear!” says Harry. By that he means he is a master of self-control, discretion, and reserve – all traits that have served him well as a timpanist biding his time as he awaits his cue to strike. But like anyone, Harry doesn’t just want to beat the drums, but to shake the world. His great love is explosions. A display of fireworks at an inopportune moment triggers a marital crisis and the shock waves propel him to Hamburg. More specifically, they drive him into Gina’s attic apartment, where she’d ideally like to get rid of him right away. It marks the beginning of a beautiful enmity. With Harry as a seasoned veteran of nuptial wars, and Gina the relationship terrorist, the combatants are well matched.
“I’m not much of a storyteller. For me it’s always the small things … an incident that triggers something, or a fragment of a conversation that I overhear … that leads to big things … a feature film or something.”Pia Frankenberg
Reviews
“… The dialogue hits home, a rarity in German film comedies, nothing seems forced or stiff … Pia Frankenberg has everything well in hand. She’s a comedic talent with discipline and an instinct for cryptic humor, making her, without a doubt, an idiosyncratic figure in Germany’s film scene.”Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin
“… a comedy of love, shot at breakneck speed and inspired by British and German wordplay …””Die Zeit
Film stills
Reviews
“Pia Frankenberg is a disarmingly original character in German relationship dramas … Gina and Harry are absolutely outrageous. And that is exactly what makes it so much fun.”Münchner Abendzeitung
“Pia Frankenberg and Ian Dury create a brilliant bit of trash … they have managed to achieve a German comedy on a par with the grand archetypes. Screwball comedy, made in Hamburg …”Wiener
“… definitely the wackiest couple on the big screen this winter … an absolutely original style.”Zitty, Berlin