Der Philosoph

Hardly an erotic film, but then real sex is often something different from 'sexy' (and rather better).

The plot is that an academic and socially inept philosophy student who is working on his thesis meets an attractive woman who may or may not be imaginary.

The woman is not only attractive, she has a personality. (How often do you see that in a film like this?). The philosopher and the woman become friends and then begin to have sex. (Not the way round things happen in most erotic films). He then meets her two friends who share her apartment, and when he has grown close to them, has sex with each of them in turn (and various other permutations).

The film shows a fair amount of flesh, but it has the undriven and exploratory quality of narrative of a real drama. One would need to be extremely blunt to manage to get through any sequence of this film without thinking about what is happening on-screen.

As with very few films (and hardly any English-language ones) this is a film about sex without being in any expected sense an erotic film.

I enjoy it more every time I watch it. But it leaves you with things to think about - not things to do.

In the absence of any other reviews or comments whatsoever, thought I should throw in my two cents worth.

Saw this movie in its first run in London around 1990. Must have been fairly good as I still remember scenes now, 12 years on. At the time, I was doing a Ph.D in philosophy so that may have been part of my reason for noticing the film. It's about a boring, nerdy academic type who publishes a text on Heraclitus and somehow attracts the attention of three attractive women who may or may not be actual muses. It's a little slow and humorless at times (it is German, you know), but overall a decent flick. Worth a viewing.