A dead man is lying in a pool of white tempera -- this is the "Lipstick Killer," so named because of the lipstick with which he colors his victims.
Buttgereit, author of the devastating and phenomenal Nekromantik, will bring him back to life through numerous flashbacks (which do not follow a chronological order) that are useful in delving into his character and perverse psychology. All this accompanied by piercing and haunting, almost hypnotic music.
This is a hallucinatory work in which the director prefers the inner aspect of the protagonist rather than his murderous actions.
Buttgereit presents us with the grim picture of a man's illness and does so by delving into his mind through a kind of journey to the antechamber to hell.
He shows us what are the thoughts and visions of a deviant mind, the hallucinations that blur into reality and take shape (impressive are the toothed vagina and the amputated leg), the extreme actions that result in desperate autoeroticism and self-punishment (a torn eye, a nailed penis).
An unstable mental picture of a man with severe mental disorders, a man who will drown in the silence of his madness.
Unhealthy, distressing-this is the world into which Buttgereit hurls us.
The serial killer's breath that overhangs a good portion of the film is reminiscent of that of the killer in William Lustig's Maniac (another disturbing film).
Review of Lady of sorrow
