Directed by Percy Adlon. Sugar Baby is written and directed by German Percy Adlon. After making a number of very serious films in Germany including Celeste, the story of Marcel Proust's housekeeper, Adlon made this frothy but serious comedy about a thirty eight year old overweight single woman who works in a funeral parlour, her taking five weeks holiday, her infatuation with a train driver, her complex searching out of his identity and finding out all about him, her affair with him for a fortnight - and its disastrous ending.
Adlon had the advantage of actress Marianne Sagebrecht as his leading lady. She has a strong and striking screen presence. Adlon was to make his next two films with her in the U. The film is full of light touches, humorous presentations of Marianne and her new boyfriend, Huber, the married train driver. However, they also talk intimately and seriously about themselves, their past, their dreams, their frustrations. There are exuberant elements as Marianne comes alive in this new experience, culminating, in the rock 'n roll dancing which ends so hurtfully for her.
The film is often tricksy in its cinematic style, especially the use of particular colours for sequences and the surreal atmosphere given to Marianne's train rides, the underground rail system, her reaction at the mortuary. Entertaining humane story? About men and women? About needs, love, frustration? The German settings: the city, the underground rail system in all its detail, the mortuary, apartments and houses? The musical score - especially the use of the song, Sugarbaby?
The use of particular colours and monochromes for sequences - adding to the surreal atmosphere or distracting? The title, Marianne's discovery of the song, her memories, applying the name to Eugen Huber?
The opening mood: Marianne, her age, appearance, weight? Her eating at home? Her apartment, bed, television? The monotony of her going to work and back? The glimpses of work with the corpses? The monochrome of the train rides - and the continuous announcing of the next station and "stand clear"?
