Pino Donaggio – The Berlin Affair (1985) (2011)

Track list:
1. Main Title / The Story Begins (04:20)
2. Mitsuko (01:15)
3. Louise and Mitsuko (02:53)
4. The Affair Begins (03:57)
5. The Story Continues / If You Leave Me / Geisha in Kimono (04:12)
6. Expert Liar / The Lovers / Hotel Visit (05:25)
7. Dinner and Dancing (03:23)
8. More of the Story (02:33)
9. Piano Recital (Chopin’s Notturno #1) (02:40)
10. Mitsuko in Pain / Lies / The Contract (04:15)
11. Blackmail (00:59)
12. Fake Suicides / Mitsuko and Heinz (03:00)
13. Intrigue (03:36)
14. Sleeping Powder / Looking for Mitsuko / Escape (05:21)
15. End of the Affair / End of the Story / End Titles (04:11)
Bonus Tracks:
16. Source Music (03:04)
17. Affair of the Heart (03:31)

I have been looking for it for a long time.

The Berlin Affair (Italian: Interno Berlinese) is a 1985 Italo-German film, directed by Liliana Cavani and starring Gudrun Landgrebe, Kevin McNally and Mio Takaki.[1] Set in Berlin, 1938, it sees the wife of a rising Nazi diplomat fall in love with Mitsuko Matsugae, the daughter of the Japanese Ambassador and an artist. Her husband finds out, and moves to break up the affair. However he soon falls in love with Mistuko himself, leading to the intervention of officials higher in the system. The film is based upon the novel Quicksand by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki.

Plot

In Berlin in 1938, Louise von Hollendorf, the beautiful wife of a German senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, decides to take drawing lessons at the institute of Fine arts when the works of his literature professor are banned by the Nazi regime. At the art classes Louise meets Mitsuko Matsugae, the young and alluring daughter of the Japanese Ambassador. Captivated by Mitsuko’s beauty, Louise uses her as a model for her sketching exercises. At school, a rumor spreads romantically linking the two women, which actually bring them together. Smitten with each other, they become friends and soon embark in a passionate affair. As Louise later tells her professor, "One moment we were laughing, the next, we were making love". Their lesbian relationship is carried away at Louise’s house and a later in a seedy hotel. The two spend almost all of their time together, and Louise is madly in love. Her husband, Heinz, begins to suspect the nature of Louise’s relationship with Mitsuko. He is jealous, but also worried about the political implications that his wife’s indiscretions can bring to his political ambitions. Heinz confronts his wife, but she denies everything, in spite of clear evidence to the contrary.
One day, Louise is summoned by her lover and she discovers that Mitsuko has been carrying an affair with their drawing instructor, Joseph Benno. They had planned to marry in spite of their social and racial differences, and intentionally spread the lesbian rumors at the art institute to mask their relationship. Disgusted and disillusioned, Louise breaks away from Mitsuko and returns to her husband, telling him all.
Meanwhile, the Nazi regimen has been using a moralizing campaign as an excuse to eliminate its opponents. Heinz’s cousin, Wolf von Hollendorf, a high-ranking officer in the Gestapo, makes Louise and Heinz participate in a plot to uncover General Werner von Heiden’s homosexuality. The trap takes place in the house of the Hollendorfs, who could not refuse the favor. They invite the old General von Heiden and his lover, a young handsome pianist. Wolf exposes their relationship, ruining the general’s career.
A month later, Mitsuko reappears in Louise’s life, faking being ill and pregnant. Louise does not believe her, but they rekindle their affair even with greater ardor. Benno is still in Mitsuko’s life, but promises Louise that he will tolerate her relationship with Mitsuko if she helps them getting married. Louise reluctantly agrees but Benno uses their written commitment to blackmail Heinz. With Wolf’s help, Heinz has Benno, who is half Italian, deported. He is determined to separate his wife from her Japanese lover, but the two women plot to scare Heinz to get him to accept their relationship faking a suicide attempt. The plan takes an unexpected turn when Mitsuko seduces the husband himself. This leads to a m�nage � trois, with each member of the triangle becoming more and more jealous of the others. Mitsuko, jealous and possessive, is the domineering partner in the threesome. She gives the von Hollendorfs sleeping pills after dinner to make sure they will not have sex and plays the married couple off against each other. Their self-destructive relationship becomes known to the Nazi authorities when Benno publishes the information abroad. To avoid a scandal, Heinz is asked to resign and to leave the city. Wolf temporarily withdraws their passports. Rather than risk to be separated, all three drink poison in a ceremonial ritual. However, later, to Louise’s bewilderment, she awakes and understands that Mitsuko had intended to take Heinz instead of her. She visits her professor one last time, who tells her to publicize her story before he is arrested by the Gestapo.

Cast

Gudrun Landgrebe as: Louise von Hollendorf
Kevin McNally as : Heinz von Hollendorf
Mio Takaki as: Mitsuko Matsugae
Hanns Zischler as : Wolf von Hollendorf
Andrea Prodan as : Joseph Benno
Massimo Girottias : Werner von Heiden
Pieter Daniel as : Edmund Meyer
William Berger as : Professor
John Steiner as: Oskar Engelhart
Edward Farrelly as: Bernard
Philippe Leroy as: Herbert Gessler
Claudio Lorimer as: Otto Bhuler