The Night Nurse (2000)

Background


When the Erotic Tales were launched seven years ago on a Sunday afternoon at the Cannes festival, Susan Seidelman’s The Dutch Master and Bob Rafelson’s Wet were given top billing at the Grand Théâtre Lumière - and veteran name directors were immediately associated with the series. Over the years, however, the “club” has expanded to include filmmakers from various cultures, women directors with feminist viewpoints, exponents of the gay and lesbian movement, and auteurs who frankly wanted to propagate their own personal points of view on just what is, or may be, the erotic and the amorous, the carnal and the concupiscent, given today’s needs or in a certain context.


It was only a matter of time before Tanja Ziegler raised the question: why don’t we ask young directors, graduates of the film academies, what they feel may be still missing in the series, what the young audience has to say about related issues of contemporary morality, what kind of tales might test the ethical and aesthetical boundaries even further. She suggested talking to Bernd Heiber at the HFF Potsdam-Babelsberg - and the result was The Night Nurse.


Despite just four student films in his portfolio, Bernd Heiber had already made a name for himself as an author and stage director. Further, he could boast of a promising record at key international festivals. His short feature Scheissleben (Shit-Life) (1996), a black comedy set in Berlin’s demimonde, was seen at Saarbrücken. And his diploma film, Klopfen (Knocking) (1998), a psycho-thriller with touches of Edgar Allan Poe delirium, was invited to Cottbus. Paul Fassnach, who played the ex-con driven batty by a strange knocking in his apartment, is back in Heiber’s Erotic Tale as the flustered policeman with a toothache - until he meets the night nurse.



Synopsis


Brandenburg, near the Polish border; it all started with a toothache. Then the boss called to say he was needed. Extra Duty - to guard a gangster for the night in an emergency ward. Konzak was sorry he ever became a cop. Besides, the prisoner was a moody boxer-type, and the room at the hospital was like in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Sweat was already dripping down his back when the night nurse stopped by on her rounds. A sway of the hips.. the look in her eye...she was a real knockout. Konzak forgot the toothache and the prisoner...

Brandenburg, near the Polish border; it all started with a toothache. Then the boss called to say he was needed. Extra Duty - to guard a gangster for the night in an emergency ward. Konzak was sorry he ever became a cop. Besides, the prisoner was a moody boxer-type, and the room at the hospital was hot like hell. Sweat was already dripping down his back when the night nurse stopped by on her rounds. A sway of the hips.. the look in her eye...she was a real knockout. Konzak forgot the toothache and the prisoner...

Besetzung

Paul Fassnacht, Franziska Petri, Wilfried Hochholdinger, Hildegard Alex

Stab

Regie
Bernd Heiber

Drehbuch
Bernd Heiber

Kamera
Konstantin Kröning

Schnitt
Haike Brauer

Musik
Kai-Uwe Kohlschmidt

Szenenbild
Kerstin Michel

ProduzentIn
Tanja Ziegler

Redaktion
Karin Zahn, WDR

Infos

Sender
WDR

Genre
Short Feature

Format
35mm; colour; 1:1,85

Länge
28 min.

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