Sugarbaby 1985

Marianne Sägebrecht plays Marianne, a middle-aged, overweight, slovenly and lonely assistant to a funeral director in Munich. Her life revolves around relaxing in an indoor swimming pool, commuting by subway between her apartment and the funeral home, and munching candy bars in bed while watching television, which is how she revisits her teenage crush on the pop singer Peter Kraus and his hit Sugar Baby.

On one trip she becomes aware of the train driver, Huber, Eisi Gulp, and is drawn to his announcing voice. He is young, tall, lean and blond (not unlike Kraus), and Marianne becomes obsessed. Through a mix of subterfuge and detective work she learns his name, his wife’s cold, overbearing nature, and his favorite candy bar. She starts taking exercise, dressing smartly, and cooking regular meals. She learns to interpret the subway network’s complicated shift roster, and makes a point of crossing his path, perhaps giving him a smile of recognition. She dresses up her drab apartment and installs a new double bed.

Marianne learns that Huber’s wife will be away for two weeks on account of a death in the family, and puts her plan into action. At the vending machine she offers him the bar she has just bought, and says:

I’ve changed my mind

She invites him to come to dinner the next evening. She cooks a roast and sets the table for a romantic meal, but when he fails to arrive she breaks down sobbing, and furiously destroys the table setting and much else beside. The roast is burnt. Then he arrives, late because of an emergency at work.

They make love, and he moves in with her. She takes holidays, buys him new clothes, he takes her places on his Yamaha RD125DX motorcycle, and they share intimacies; her unhappy childhood and his fear of being the driver involved in an unavoidable fatality. They enjoy each other’s company and she fantasizes a life together; they go to a rock ‘n’ roll dance evening, and when the band plays Sugar Baby they “let their hair down” and the other couples stand back to give them space. Frau Huber, Manuela Denz, who has returned and found Marianne’s address in her husband’s work jacket, storms in through the crowd, separates the couple and furiously assaults Marianne, Huber cowering among the onlookers. Leaving Marianne bruised and dazed on the dance floor, Frau Huber marches her husband out of the hall.

In the last scene, Marianne, still bruised, is standing on the edge of the platform, holding out a candy bar as the train approaches.