VIRGIN MACHINE
aka Die Jungfrauen Maschine
Dir. Monika Treut, 1988.
Germany, 84 min.
In English and German with English subtitles.

FRIDAY, JUNE 5 – 10PM
MONDAY, JUNE 8 – 7:30PM
SATURDAY, JUNE 20 – 7:30PM
MONDAY, JUNE 22 – 10PM

With visual verve and wit to spare, Monika Treut chronicles a belated personal and professional awakening in the transatlantic outing VIRGIN MACHINE. Dorothee Müller (Ina Blum), a young journalist in Hamburg, fruitlessly and deliriously researches the scientific and sociological implications of love, before taking off to San Francisco to track down her absentee mother.

There, amid the Tenderloin district, Dorothee stumbles onto the city’s lesbian scene, rife with male impersonators, call girls, porn show ticket takers and more, as she learns to stop worrying and love the inscrutable nature of her quest. An underrated auteur who emerged in the wake of New German Cinema, Treut presents an unusual inquiry into female desire that is both heady and insightful.

“Treut is an agile, intelligent director who moves easily between feverish fantasy and grubby reality.” – Amy Taubin, The Village Voice