Housewife Report 2 (3 Stars)

This is a sequel to "Housewife Report", released only five months earlier. You can't accuse the film studios of wasting time. If a film is a hit the sequel has to be pushed out as quickly as possible, and if it's a low budget film there's no need to wait.

The film opens in the same offices as the first film. Once more a team of interviewers is sent out to interview women in their homes about how happy they are in their marriages. This time there's a feminist in the group who insists that the interviews should be used to prove that men are responsible for all problems in marriage. The young married couple Bernd and Brigitte Mittler are once more two of the interviewers, but we only see the interviews carried out by Brigitte. There are eight short stories told in flashbacks as she interviews eight women. Before each story we see the group leader on the street asking questions which roughly relate to the following story.

1. Steffi Mahler is the only one of the eight women who is already divorced. Her husband Oskar was a jealous man, who frequently lost his temper and hit her whenever he suspected her of infidelity. She put up with him because the sex was so good when they made up, but eventually it was too much for her and she left.

The moral of the story is that jealousy is bad.

2. Gudula Hansen has regular sex with her husband Paul, but he always lies on the bed and waits to be seduced. She wants a man who's more active. She has a one-night stand with an American bodybuilder called Charlie. Instead of keeping it a secret she tells her husband. His jealousy makes him desire her more, and he finally becomes active in sex.

The moral of the story is that jealousy can be good.

3. Josef Opitz is a tram driver, his wife Kati is a cleaning lady. She tells Brigitte she's never been unfaithful. She cleans the house of a millionaire businessman who is rarely at home, so she likes to use his bath. One day she's surprised by Henrici, a guest in the house. He's a perfect gentleman who gently woos her, so eventually they have sex. Brigitte says that this means Kati was unfaithful after all, but Kati denies it. She says that she never kissed Henrici on the mouth, so it doesn't count as infidelity.

The moral of the story is that you can always convince yourself you've been faithful when you weren't.

4. Gottlieb Illing drives a beer truck, his wife Gretel is a seamstress. Gottlieb drinks between 10 and 15 liters of beer a day. During the week he has sex with his wife three times a day, more often at the weekend. Gretel is sick of it. That's too much sex for her. She leaves her husband to be with Harald, an encyclopedia salesman who hardly ever wants sex. They just lie together naked cuddling. After 12 months with Harald it gets boring, so she returns to her husband.

The moral of the story is that too much sex is better than no sex at all.

5. Otto Elwein is a carpenter who makes coffins. Someone has to do it! His wife Franzi is unhappy because they only have sex twice a month. They think they can get more excitement in their lives if they do wife-swapping. They invite another couple that has advertised in a newspaper. They have an awkward evening, after which they decide it's not for them. They would rather continue having sex twice a month and be happy.

The motto of the story is that not enough sex is better than having sex with strangers.

6. Anton and Loni Leming own a small convenience store. Their landlord wants to demolish the house and build a bigger new house. They ask if they can have shop space in the new building, but they're told it will be too expensive. Loni visits the landlord privately and seduces him, so he agrees to let them have a new shop.

The motto of the story is that being unfaithful is acceptable if the end justifies the means.

7. Wealthy city councillor Klement Nickel likes to visit museums and art galleries when he's on holiday. His wife Erika would rather lie on the beach. They're planning a holiday in Spain, and Klement tells Erika she can only go to the beach if she learns Spanish within a week. Erika sees a newspaper advertisement for a Spanish teacher with guaranteed success from unconventional methods. When she visits the teacher he opens a trunk full of whips and tells her discipline is necessary. Erika refuses, so he says there's an alternative method. They have sex while Spanish is being spoken from a vinyl recording. When Erika travels back home she's already talking to herself in Spanish. One session was enough to learn Spanish fluently. It's a miracle!

The motto of the story is that when you want to learn a foreign language everything is allowed.

8. Alois and Liesel Halbmaier run a small guest house in a village outside Munich. Because it runs badly the money isn't enough, so he needs a second job. He stays in Munich every day and only comes home at the weekend. Liesel is fascinated by a guest who paints erotic art. He demonstrates two Japanese sex positions in the stables. Liesel enjoys it so much that she shows the positions to her husband at the weekend. He gets angry and says that it's un-Christian to have sex like that.

The feminist insists that this is proof that men make women suffer and deny them sexual satisfaction, but the group's leader tells her that it isn't so simple.

The moral of the story is that you can have un-Christian sex with a stranger, but you shouldn't do it with your husband.

The film is of acceptable quality, but it's spoilt by having too many stories. It would have been more interesting with only four or five longer stories.

I bought the film from Amazon a few years ago, but now it's out of print. Maybe you can pick up a copy on Ebay.