7. Der Todesking (1989)
An intensely solemn meditation on suicide, Jorg Buttgereit's art house/horror hybrid does not feature central characters but is instead divided into seven parts - each corresponding to a day in the week in which an act of suicide is perpetrated. Intertwining the seven days of the week is footage of a decaying corpse. The stories are stark and brutal. On Monday, a man comes into his house, sits down and writes some letters, gets into the bath and takes a massive overdose. Shots of the man dying are interspersed with shots of his goldfish - his closest significant other - dying as well. On Thursday there is footage of a very large bridge which has the names, ages and occupations of people who jumped to their death superimposed on it. The Sunday segment features a man crying his heart out and thumping his head onto a wall until he is brain damaged. So you can tell from the above that the film is rather grim fare indeed (and I refrained from talking about the most depressing parts so as not to spoil it for you!). Buttgereit uses several camera tricks to accentuate the unpleasantness - the film stock burning up at a crucial moment and a 'homage' to Nazisploitation. Suicide is never sensationalised or glamourised, in fact the film makes it look like a terribly sad and ugly affair. Buttgereit has the right balance between horror and art, the film should please both horror films and those who like a dash of art house. But pleased be warned, it is pretty no holds barred stuff and the solemnity of the film is extreme.