Mr. Thompson went to see the German Film "Rossini" at the 1998 Portland International Film Festival and found it very interesting. The PIFF site includes a review of the film. Another review and information about the film follow the stills below.

Rossini: or the Fatal Question, Who Slept with Whom...
Rossini: Oder die Moederische Frage, Wer mit Wem Schlief

Germany, 1996, 110 minutes

With its stunning, Altmanesque opening sequence, in which a roving camera zaps through the titular restaurant, (the cinema's lushest since Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover --catch the checkered bathroom!) overhearing overlapping conversations, the film announces its high gloss at the outset. A huge hit in Germany, this visually bravura, smart and sexy comedy of manners clearly has it sights set on doing well as an export. But its international aspirations don't stop it from being a film immersed in German--make that Bavarian--culture. Its plot centers around the search for an actress to play Lorely, the embodiment of Nordic beauty. The film's director, the author of the novel on which it is based, an actress who will stop at nothing to get the role, her lovelorn girlfriend, the waitress the novelist is in love with, the lonely beauty torn between two boorish swains, the plastic surgeon and the amorous head waiter are just a few of the interconnecting characters that rush through the narrative. Though pitched at the edge of farce, these characters, with their all-to-human search for love, fame and a satisfying bowel movement, are grounded in a meticulously observed social reality. The screenplay, co-authored by Patrick Süskind, who many will remember as the author of the fascinating Perfume, is reminiscent of such fin de siècle playwrights as Schnitzler and Wedekind in its balance of comedy, tragedy and social comment. But what really puts the story over are the art direction, design and cinematography, which are really something special. Blonde actresses seem to emerge from candle flames, while depths of field will shift unnoticed, drawing our attention to yet another subplot--this film has an old-style glow rarely attempted these days.

Peter Culley