Water Drops on Burning Rocks

Cynics would argue that this is so much more achieved than Ozon's first two features because there was a real script: it's based on an early, unproduced play by Fassbinder. The plot is quintessential Fassbinder: middle-aged businessman picks up a young straight, seduces him, installs him as his lover/housekeeper and begins to tire of him. Then the boy's jilted fiancée shows up, soon followed by the transsexual who sacrificed everything for love of the businessman. Emotional recriminations ensue. With French actors playing German characters, quoting Rilke in German and, in one show-stopping scene, grooving to German pop of the '70s, it manages to be 90 per cent pure Fassbinder and 90 per cent pure Ozon. A perfect co-feature for Chinese Roulette.