Die Moral der Ruth Halbfass (1972)

In the Federal Republic of Germany in the early 1970s, Ruth Halbfass, the wife of a successful, wealthy corset manufacturer, begins to grow terribly bored in her gilded cage of luxury and monotony. Her husband, a staid, jovial, somewhat heavyset man in his middle years, has come to mean nothing but routine to her and is far more interested in business than in his pleasure-loving wife. Through their daughter Aglaia, Ruth one day meets Franz Vogelsang, her attractive, young, dynamic art teacher. They are quickly drawn to each other and begin a passionate affair, which they prefer to conduct outdoors in the countryside. Soon things get out of hand. Franz no longer wants to share his new conquest with the bore Erich Halbfass and plans to have him killed behind his back. To this end, without Ruth’s knowledge, he hires two shady characters to do his dirty work and murder Erich. The crooks offer Erich Halbfass a deal: they will let him live if he pays 5,000 to 8,000 marks, rather than the measly 2,000 marks Franz was willing to pay for the murder. Erich promptly throws the two petty criminals out of his house. But then Vogelsang’s prematurely careworn wife Doris appears, having grown suspicious of her husband, who is away from home all too often, and shoots Erich. Doris is arrested and eventually hangs herself in her prison cell.