I would like nothing more than to dine from your flesh.
A student in criminal psychology(Keri Russell) is fascinated with a case regarding a disturbed homosexual, Oliver Hartwin(Thomas Kretschmann), who was sent to prison for eating Simon Grombeck(Thomas Huber), a volunteer for cannibalism. Simon's only request was for Oliver to bite off and eat his penis and to see the blood from his teeth during consumption of his flesh. GRIMM LOVE is mostly told to us in flashback from the childhood of the two homosexuals growing up in tough environments which may've contributed(or this is what Russell believes as she researches their lives while in Germany for a college assignment, morbidly curious as to how the killer and victim differed from the "normals of society")to their base natures. Both had "mother problems"..Oliver's mother was schizophrenic, Simon's committed suicide when he was but a child. Katie(Russell)is interested in watching a reputed tape recording of Oliver's butchering of Simon. I think this is where Katie sees the error of her ways and comes to terms with the fact that no matter how you would like to psychoanalyze deviants and understand what makes them tick, the repulsion in the perverse, sickening activities of these people are all too real..she begins to cry and look away as Oliver hacks away, a rude awakening needed so she could snap out of her quest to find humanity in the dark natures of mankind's most fiendish.
Despite the appalling subject matter(I'm referring to the cannibalism and those interested in it), GRIMM LOVE is beautifully photographed by Jonathan Sela, and has strong performances from Kretschmann and Huber as the protagonists. As Simon and Oliver, we are witnesses to their upbringing, the miserable loneliness thanks to absent fathers who didn't love them, and how their homosexuality was a burden when they were children, both the objects of bullying. Simon, though, had found love in a male bartender who was devoted to him. Oliver, on the other hand, begun to fantasize about body parts hanging from hooks and chains groping him! We get a peep into what provides Oliver with actual erotic pleasure, and it is the beginning of a journey that ends unpleasantly.
I will say this, though, as a sort of word of warning, GRIMM LOVE is deliberately paced with a methodical approach..meaning that many will consider it slow and dull. I realize that Russell's role may seem unimportant since she really isn't the subject of the movie, but Katie does tell us their story, visits Oliver's home, and communicates to the viewer as an outside voice trying to establish a reasoning for why two men would agree to carry on with such a grisly agreement, one to die knowing he would be eaten, the other more than willing to carve him up and chow on his flesh.
A student in criminal psychology(Keri Russell) is fascinated with a case regarding a disturbed homosexual, Oliver Hartwin(Thomas Kretschmann), who was sent to prison for eating Simon Grombeck(Thomas Huber), a volunteer for cannibalism. Simon's only request was for Oliver to bite off and eat his penis and to see the blood from his teeth during consumption of his flesh. GRIMM LOVE is mostly told to us in flashback from the childhood of the two homosexuals growing up in tough environments which may've contributed(or this is what Russell believes as she researches their lives while in Germany for a college assignment, morbidly curious as to how the killer and victim differed from the "normals of society")to their base natures. Both had "mother problems"..Oliver's mother was schizophrenic, Simon's committed suicide when he was but a child. Katie(Russell)is interested in watching a reputed tape recording of Oliver's butchering of Simon. I think this is where Katie sees the error of her ways and comes to terms with the fact that no matter how you would like to psychoanalyze deviants and understand what makes them tick, the repulsion in the perverse, sickening activities of these people are all too real..she begins to cry and look away as Oliver hacks away, a rude awakening needed so she could snap out of her quest to find humanity in the dark natures of mankind's most fiendish.
Despite the appalling subject matter(I'm referring to the cannibalism and those interested in it), GRIMM LOVE is beautifully photographed by Jonathan Sela, and has strong performances from Kretschmann and Huber as the protagonists. As Simon and Oliver, we are witnesses to their upbringing, the miserable loneliness thanks to absent fathers who didn't love them, and how their homosexuality was a burden when they were children, both the objects of bullying. Simon, though, had found love in a male bartender who was devoted to him. Oliver, on the other hand, begun to fantasize about body parts hanging from hooks and chains groping him! We get a peep into what provides Oliver with actual erotic pleasure, and it is the beginning of a journey that ends unpleasantly.
I will say this, though, as a sort of word of warning, GRIMM LOVE is deliberately paced with a methodical approach..meaning that many will consider it slow and dull. I realize that Russell's role may seem unimportant since she really isn't the subject of the movie, but Katie does tell us their story, visits Oliver's home, and communicates to the viewer as an outside voice trying to establish a reasoning for why two men would agree to carry on with such a grisly agreement, one to die knowing he would be eaten, the other more than willing to carve him up and chow on his flesh.