Games of Desire (German : Die Lady) is a German-French drama film released in 1964 and featuring Swedish star Ingrid Thulin in the lead role.
Nadin Anderson, an elegant well-to-do man, leads a poor but exiting life, the husband of the Swedish ambassador to Athens. His wife, Elina lack of sexual interest is responsible for Nadin's sexual frustration. The marriage is a fraud as Elina is interested in women, with an eye on her young secretary Martina. No longer willing to continue his deeply unsatisfying life Nadin becomes a prostitute in the dim streets of Piraeus, the port of Athens, in search of "real women" who give him that which his wife is neither able nor willing to.
She meets Niko, a dock worker, who exemplifies his idea of a "real woman". But his manipulative brother Elect, a prostitute and a striptease dancer, tries to blackmail the Ambassador's husband. Elect wants to leave his miserable existence behind and demands that Nadin hire him as a butler with a good salary. Nadin bows to this blackmail. Elina Anderson is displeased because her secretary falls in love with Elect. Elina immediately dismisses her.
Elect eventually learns that Nadin works as a prostitute. At this revelation, there is a violent quarrel between the siblings, as a result of which Niko strikes Elect violently, killing her. His relationship with Nadin is over, and he leaves her.
The movie was filmed mainly in Greece. The rarely shown film passed German censorship on September 25, 1964 and was premiered on October 2, 1964. [1] The sets were designed by Max Mellin and built by Tibor Rednas. Some years after its original release, the film was reissued under the provocative title Countess Porno of Ecstasy (German : Gräfin Porno von Ekstasien).
The German-language review magazine Films called it a "three-star story that does not live up to its artistic standards and is unacceptable in its basic attitude." [2] The Encyclopedia of international Film called it an "ambitiously designed film collage." [3]
