Way to the Neighbour

From the archive

With Renate Meves and Gerd Hübinger. A woman looks during lovemaking to the viewer. "Way to the neighbor" is a ten-minute opus that Lutz Mommartz commented as follows: "A women communicates with the audience." More, in fact, does not happen. The devoted rapture in the face of the actor lets the viewer imagine that this is not a compulsory exercise, but a pleasurable freestyle happening. Lutz Mommartz is the purist among German filmmakers. His scenes focus on the basic elements of movement and rest, of tense and relaxation. He forces with the suggestive power of repeated banality the audience into the rhythm of his cinematic action. (THOMAS SCHRÖDER, DIE WELT, 12.10.68) "Way to the neighbor" consists of a shot in a single take close-up of a woman's face. Expression and movement are clear: The woman is having sex with a man and reaches twice a climax. (FILM, JAN. 69) The audience watches in the face of a young female performer the climax of love. (STERN, 17.11.68) One short work of art is the face of a girl having two ethereal orgasms, and rather nice, too: Happiness and art no doubt. (THE OBSERVER, 30.8.70)