Josefine Mutzenbacher (1970)

The mysterious millionaire Lady J. returns to Vienna from the United States around the turn of the century. Ministerial Councillor Marbach, author of a book titled *Custom and Morality*, is supposed to meet her. Lady J. unexpectedly checks into a run-down hotel by the Prater and tells the astonished councillor the life story of Josefine, a Prater prostitute. In flashbacks, we see the girl’s childhood and youth, during which she has sexual experiences at an early age with the lodger Ekkehard and a (fake) priest. After her mother dies—having been subjected to the desires of her alcohol-dependent father—the father also abuses Josefine. Through the lodger Rudolf and his girlfriend Zenzi, she meets a pimp. When her father loses his job, she has to offer herself to men to support the family. She soon rises to become the most famous and sought-after prostitute in the Prater. In the process, she encounters the double standards of her clients, who publicly condemn prostitution. At the brothel, she eventually hooks a wealthy American. Gradually, the ministerial councillor realizes that Lady J. is telling her own story. She criticizes society’s ostracism of prostitution, even invoking Sigmund Freud. She asks only that Marbach, who is visibly fascinated by her, change his way of thinking. At last, he agrees to publish Mutzenbacher’s life story in a book.