From the Life of the Marionettes 1980

Peter Egermann visits a Munich prostitute named Ka and, in a moment of shocking violence, murders her, followed by an act of necrophilia that becomes the center of a grueling investigation. The coroner’s questions probe the lives of Peter’s circle, searching for a motive or a hidden pattern that could explain such a crime. The drama unfolds through the testimonies and reactions of those who knew him, painting a portrait of a man whose private world is tangled with desire, fear, and a startling lack of self-awareness.

Peter is married to career-driven Katarina Krafft, a woman with no children and a taste for independence that often pushes the couple into unorthodox territory. Peter had confided in Mogens Jensen that he was plagued by homicidal thoughts aimed at Katarina, a confession that shocked Jensen. He told the coroner that he believed these thoughts were unlikely to become reality, and he advised Katarina to leave town—advice she dismissed, noting her demanding schedule and the impossibility of a sudden departure during a busy season.

Before the murder, Peter contemplated suicide by leaping from a building, a plan interrupted when Katarina called a friend to diffuse the crisis. He returned indoors and the couple quarrelled, their relationship laid bare as they discussed an open arrangement that Katarina openly sought to explore with other lovers. Peter claimed that he was the one who knew how to satisfy Katarina, while she candidly admitted that their bedroom has seen orgasms, faked ones, and even moments when she left to masturbate, followed by periods of small convulsions. The tension between desire, power, and fear threads through these intimate details, revealing a man who feels displaced within his own marriage.

The interrogator then turns to Tim Mandelbaum, a business partner of Katarina and a close friend within their circle. Tim, who identifies as homosexual, hesitates when asked about any affair with Peter, and ultimately confesses that he did indeed have desires for Peter and carries a guilty conscience for introducing Peter to Ka. Tim explains that his sexuality has made him blame his circumstances for bringing Peter and Ka together, and he reveals a calculated idea to draw Peter toward him.

The narrative reaches a grim milestone when Peter meets Ka at a Munich peep show, and Ka reveals her real name—Katarina—the very name of Peter’s wife. Overcome with emotion, Peter tears up and kills Ka in a moment that seals the tragedy. Mogens Jensen offers an interpretation: Peter, shaped by an aggressive mother and then living with an equally aggressive wife, did not recognize his own latent homosexuality, and meeting Ka disrupted his carefully maintained routine, triggering an emotional blackout that he could not recover from.

Ultimately, the story closes on Peter’s fate: he is confined to a mental institution, where, at night, he clutches a teddy bear as he tries to come to terms with what he has become. The film lingers on the difficult questions of desire, identity, and the fragility of the human psyche, inviting the viewer to consider how a single act can ripple through a life and leave lasting, haunting consequences.