Grimm Love [ DVD ]  

Product Descriptions

Drama

Grimm Love (AKA. Rohtenburg)
ลวงรัก มาชำแหละ

Year : 2006

Starring : Keri Russell, Thomas Kretschmann, Thomas Huber

Directed by Martin Weisz


Screenformat : Anamorphic Widescreen 16:9

Language :
- English (5.1)
- Thai (5.1)

Subtitle : Thai
Runtime : 84 mins

[ DVD - Zone 3 - PAL ]

** PAL TV and DVD players required. US and Canada customers, please recheck with your players before making Thai DVD order.

*** Non refundable due to incompatible device ( please make sure that your DVD players and TV are compatible with PAL system )


Story :

Based on the infamous German case in which computer programmer Bernd-Jurgen Brandes agreed to participate in a cannibalistic fantasy with Armin Meiwes, a rural oddball with more modest computer interests, Rohtenburg was ultimately banned in Germany due to a lawsuit in which Meiwes successfully argued that the film slandered his deeds and made him look bad – a bit of judicial absurdity, considering Brandes agreed to have his member removed by Meiwes so they could eat it together, before Meiwes would wait until Brandes expired, cut up the cadaver into edible portions, and ultimately eat 20 kilos of the other-other white meat.

Such a crime case is far too irresistible not to dramatize on film, and while Rohtenburg – briefly known as Butterfly (a term fictional character Oliver Hartwin applies to Simon Grombeck) before being released outside of Germany as Grimm Love – did eventually pop up on DVD in parts of Europe and Australia, and will finally get its U.S. theatrical release sometime in 2007, while Marian Dora's far nastier Cannibal (2005) is already widely available on DVD.

It might be a simple case where a more arty, extreme, or outright exploitive B-picture was less of an issue, and Grimm was a high-profile production with name actors and a looming German premiere date that gave Meiwes and his lawyer time to stop the film from being screened.

What's perhaps ironic is how the film doesn't really treat either participant as totally insane or evil; from the filmmakers' POV, the whole mess was a case of two lonely men from broken-up families whose inner pain was married to levels of extreme self-abuse; after their in-person encounter that fateful night, each sensed a strange bond, or kinship, or mutual admiration that made their grand plan a natural union of sorts.

In the end, Oliver's fantasy of eating human flesh is ultimately realized, while Simon's desire to have his member chomped off as proper punishment for the seething guilt from his mother's suicide brings the sad masochist some peace (even though a bullet to the head or a swan dive off an aquaduct would've been a lot quicker).

Last updated: February 1, 2011

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