Taxi zum Klo

Last evening, I went to the cinema to watch this movie from 1980. I was expecting some tour around the city and be able to see how It changed since the fall of the wall but actually had to see a documentary about the sex life of a gay man in the Berlin of those years. I understand at the time It could have looked outrageous but since then, also in our own life, we have seen much worse. Plot : West Berliner Frank tries to keep his professional and personal life separate. During the day, he is Herr Ripploh, a dedicated public school teacher, who does some tutoring on the side. Although he likes his students and his fellow teachers, he does only the mandatory functions required with them. At night and on the weekends, he is often known as Peggy to his friends, Peggy/Frank a gay man who is always on the prowl for anonymous sex often in public places. The one thing that Frank does do to blur his personal and professional time together is to mark his students' homework while he's sitting in public washroom toilet stalls waiting to meet men for sex. Things on the personal side of his life may change when he meets Bernd, a movie theater clerk. At first, Bernd is just the latest in a string of one nights stands. However, Bernd quickly moves into Frank's flat and the two talk of their future life together, Bernd dreaming of them living together on a farm. But Frank, despite loving Bernd, feels restless and continues his quest for anonymous gay sex. Bernd knows that Frank is still having sex with other men, doesn't much like it but can't stop Frank from doing it. Even a hospital stay, the result of his risky sexual behavior, doesn't stop Frank from cruising public washrooms. But fight after fight between the two, the latest following the annual Queen's Ball, makes Frank evaluate his life in all its components.