Verführung: Die Grausame Frau

SEDUCTION tells the story of the mysterious dominatrix and clever businesswoman Wanda. Her job is to be cruel and her specialty is to lure her lovers into the trap of seduction. In her gallery in the port of Hamburg she stages bizarre stage shows: sadomasochistic rituals as an aesthetic form and a profitable business. She is also a sovereign ruler in her private life: she determines the rules of pleasure that her lovers have to follow. Her slavish stage partner Gregor, a romantic enthusiast, falls in love with Wanda. Her docile student Justin, an innocent from America, soon realizes that seduction is a devilishly sophisticated game. The journalist Mr. Mährsch actually wants to interview Wanda until he discovers his masochistic character and his desire to be Wanda's toilet. Only Caren, the lesbian friend and eccentric businesswoman, suffers. That's why she must be excluded from the game - because the show must go on.

As a central figure in the independent German film scene, director Monika Treut went to the USA at the end of the 80s and, with her approach critical of convention and her progressive perspective on lesbian and gay sexuality, gave decisive impetus to the emerging New Queer Cinema. In 2017, Treut, the fearless avant-gardist of queer cinema, was awarded the Berlinale's Teddy Honorary Prize for her life's work.