Der Philosoph (The Philosopher) is a 1989 film from West Germany, written and directed by Rudolf Thome.
Georg Hermes is a young-ish man (the actor was 30) living in Berlin. As the story opens, Georg comes home to his cramped apartment and anxiously checks the mail. The film then introduces, in turn, three attractive women: Franziska, Beate, and Martha. Each is shown in the nude, waking up in a different man's home after a night of passion.
It turns out Georg is a philosopher, and the package he was anticipating is his book, just printed. Georg has a lecture and needs a decent suit, so he goes to a men's fashion store, where, as it turns out, Franziska, Beate, and Martha all work. He buys a suit, and the three women wind up attending his lecture. They invite him over for dinner, and all three women are extremely attentive and affectionate to a shy Georg.
He invites Franziska out for an afternoon on the lake, and they become lovers. All three women, in fact, start making obvious mating signals towards Georg. Then things get stranger.
Tropes:
- Bathtub Scene: The three women treat Georg like he is a king, like in one scene where Georg sits in a bathtub while a naked Franziska sits behind him and bathes him.
- Boy Meets Ghoul: After telling Georg that it's perfectly OK for him to have sex with all three of them, Franziska drops the bomb. The three ladies are "agents in time", immortal beings that flit back and forth from one time to another time. Later another of the women describes them as "goddesses". They may be Muses, or they may be the three Graces
, but in any event they have taken Georg under their wing and they're going to nurture his talents. - Dance Party Ending: Ends with Georg and his harem of goddesses dancing on the beach by the lake.
- Foreshadowing: Franziska calls Martha "the goddess of love." Georg thinks it's a joke but the three women are revealed to be actual goddesses.
- "Friends" Rent Control: Georg is a philosopher who seems to have no means of support other than writing philosophy tomes and delivering sparsely attended lectures. He should be starving to death but somehow he can afford an apartment in Berlin.
- Gilligan Cut: The ladies invite Georg to live at their place rent-free so he can concentrate on writing. Georg hesitates and says "I can't accept that." Cut to Georg opening his moving boxes at the ladies' apartment by the river.
- Grapes of Luxury: One of the women pulls out a bunch of grapes and feeds Georg one during the Dance Party Ending.
- Hangover Sensitivity: Beate is introduced waking up and wincing from a hangover after a night of sex with a strange man.
- Idiot Ball: Georg takes Franziska out for an Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date. He doesn't know how to swim, and he doesn't bother to wear a life preserver. Naturally, he falls into the lake, and Franziska has to rescue him.
- Job Title: The Philosopher
- Most Writers Are Male: A shy, socially awkward intellectual man happens to be a virgin at age 30. He meets not one, not two, but three women, who are gorgeous, who get naked all the time, and all of whom are willing to have sex with him separately and together. Oh, and they're willing to let him live with them rent free, and they wait on him hand and foot. Why yes, this film was written and directed by a man.
- Naked on Arrival: All three of the women are naked when they are introduced, each in the apartment of a different man whom they had sex with the night before.
- No Antagonist: No antagonist and indeed hardly any conflict, other than for a little bit in the third act when Georg freaks out and leaves, upon discovering that the three ladies who want to be his harem also happen to be supernatural beings.
- Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date: Georg takes Franziska on a rowboat date on the lake. Since he's a goof, he falls out of the rowboat and Franziska has to save him.
- Polyamory: Divine beings, it seems, are beyond petty mortal conventions like monogamy. Georg is reluctant when the other two women make advances, explaining that he's in love with Franziska, but she in turn reveals that the three of them are immortal beings and they're perfectly willing to share him. Towards the end all four are in bed together.
- Sexy Soaked Shirt: The thin pants that Franziska was wearing cling to her like a second skin after she has to dive into the lake to rescue Georg. This provides a convenient excuse for her to strip naked and seduce him.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Franziska is not at all shy about peeling out of all her clothes by the lake, after she had to dive in and fish Georg out.
- Shower Scene: Franziska is introduced naked, showering in the apartment of the man she slept with the night before.
- Significant Name: As Franziska says at the end to a sleeping Georg, it's not a coincidence that the three immortal goddesses found him. Georg Hermes has his own connection with the divine.Franziska: Georg Hermes. Do you think your name is a coincidence? You're a messenger of the gods, you just don't know it yet.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: In Beate's first scene she awakens nude in a strange man's bed with no memory of how she got there. It doesn't seem to bother her that much, but the hangover she wakes up with does.
