"Deed Poll" is one of my favourite films of the past few years. A quiet tip of a movie, with some touching performances (André Schneider as Nathaniel, Gianni Meurer as his brother, and Martina Schaak in her portrayal of a lawyer with a chequered past are very convincing) and a great script with fabulous lines (Ivy: "I don't smoke!" - Nathaniel: "Because you consider it a weakness?" - Ivy: "Maybe." - Nathaniel: "Am I allowed to be weak, then?").
Ivy Poll (played hysterically by Barbara Kowa) has an incestuous relationship with her brother, Sean (sex on legs: Rainer Maria Wittenauer). After her rich father finds out about the sexual relationship of his children, Ivy kills him. That's where the movie starts.
The Poll siblings inherit a great mansion, a yacht, and A LOT of money. They are aimless, purposeless; they only seem to live for drugs (ecstasy, dope, cocaine, speed), card games and bizarre sex fantasies. Ivy hires a call-boy, Nathaniel (André Schneider in his best performance so far), in order to break more and more rules. The hustler has a mysterious understanding for his client - he can literally read her mind. To fulfil her kinky sex dreams, he even brings his handicapped brother, Thor (stunning: Gianni Meurer), for a foursome.
Throughout the movie, Ivy expresses repeatedly her wish to have a "hand-made set of cards: smooth, good-smelling, thick, sensual and sexual". While on drugs, Nathaniel makes a strange offer: He wants the Polls to skin him in order to make cards out of his skin.
With the words, "That's the hottest thing I've ever experienced!", Ivy takes a scalpel and cuts 32 cards out of Nathaniel...
Although I prefer Biermann's shorter films, like "Coda" or "Zwischen Flieder wandern und singen", I must say that "Deed Poll" is a high art product. A thoughtful, atmospheric picture with sexy moments, some good camera angles, and an ending that certainly leaves no-one untouched.
Thriller fans will rejoice!
