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Ticket of No Return

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Ticket of No Return
GermanBildnis einer Trinkerin
Directed byUlrike Ottinger
Written byUlrike Ottinger
Produced byTabea Blumenschein
Ulrike Ottinger
StarringTabea Blumenschein
Magdalena Montezuma
Orpha Termin
Monika von Cube
CinematographyUlrike Ottinger
Edited byIla von Hasperg
Music byPeer Raben
Production
companies
Autorenfilm-Produktionsgemeinschaft
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen
Release date
Running time
107 minutes
CountryWest Germany
LanguageGerman

Ticket of No Return (German: Bildnis einer Trinkerin) is a German drama film, directed by Ulrike Ottinger and released in 1979.[1] The film is considered to be the first of Ottinger's "Berlin Trilogy", alongside the later films Freak Orlando and Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press [de].[2]

An exploration of the way women's public behavior is more heavily scrutinized than men's, the film stars Tabea Blumenschein as an unnamed woman who travels to Berlin with plans to do nothing but drink alcohol until she passes out, as a Greek chorus of commentators (Magdalena Montezuma as "Social Question", Orpha Termin as "Accurate Statistics" and Monika von Cube as "Common Sense") spout facts, questions and moral judgements about her actions.[3] Over the course of the drinking spree, she also develops a quasi-romantic relationship with another unnamed woman (Lutze),[4] and drinks in a variety of venues including a lesbian bar where a woman invites her to dance.[5]

The film's cast also includes Kurt Raab, Volker Spengler, Günter Meisner, Eddie Constantine, Wolf Vostell, Martin Kippenberger and Nina Hagen in supporting roles.

In 2020, the film was selected for screening in the online We Are One: A Global Film Festival.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Thomas Elsaesser, European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood. Amsterdam University Press, 2005. ISBN 9789053566022. p. 224.
  2. ^ Amy Sherlock, "Following Ulrike Ottinger to the End of the World". Frieze, December 24, 2019.
  3. ^ Angela Waters, "Ulrike Ottinger’s 1979 film “Ticket of No Return” is a manifesto about drinking alone in Berlin as a woman". Sleek, February 24, 2020.
  4. ^ Alice A. Kuzniar, The Queer German Cinema. Stanford University Press, 2000. ISBN 9780804739955. p. `57.
  5. ^ Judith Mayne, The Woman at the Keyhole: Feminism and Women's Cinema. Indiana University Press, 1990. ISBN 9780253115041. p. 142.
  6. ^ David Morgan, "'We Are One' presents a free global film festival online". CBS News, May 28, 2020.
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