Schrader

The opening film of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival in 1999, Aimée & Jaguar drew attention not only for the lesbian love story that it narrates, but equally for the political position of the lovers – Aimée, the wife of a Nazi officer, and Jaguar, a Jewish journalist. The story is based on the memoirs of Lilly Wust (the Aimée character), who is 85 and still living in Germany.

A conservative Midwest businessman ventures into the sordid underworld of pornography in California to look for his runaway teenage daughter who is making porno films in the pits of Los Angeles. Originally Warren Beatty wanted to play the lead role. However, he wanted Paul Schrader to rewrite the script so he would be searching for his sister (not his daughter). When Schrader refused Beatty passed on the project.

Love never dies in Brian De Palma's psychological thriller, though money certainly complicates matters. Rich New Orleans real estate developer Michael Courtland (Cliff Robertson) lost his beloved wife Elizabeth (Genevieve Bujold) and their daughter during a botched kidnap rescue, after he chose to let the police try to free them instead of paying the ransom. Sixteen years later, Michael returns to the Tuscan church where he and Elizabeth first met, and he sees Sandra Portinari (Bujold again), the mirror image of his dead wife. Despite the reservations of his long-time friend and business partner (John Lithgow), Michael woos Sandra and brings her back to New Orleans to marry her. Seeing Sandra as his second chance to prove his love, Michael thinks he can finally put the past behind him, but the past is about to catch up with him in ways he never dreamed.

MAU MAU is situated appropriate in the middle of the red light district. Whenever night falls on the city, the joint starts leaping in MAU MAU. Pimping, stripping, ripping off and grifting would be the order of the time. Sometimes it's all really agreeable and sometimes all hell breaks loose. Parties and snivelling go hand in hand right here. In this globe of the marooned, the tripping and those who have actually gotten back once again on their feet, the film traces the lifelines of Inge and Heinz, of Rosa and Doris and of Ferdi and Ali on their search for enjoy, joy and life. "If I had the option of shooting in paradise or hell," states Uwe Schrader, "then I'd select hell".