Rossini (1997)

The city’s media crowd meets at the Munich restaurant “Rossini,” including director Uhu Zigeuner, producer Oskar Reiter, and poet Bodo Kriegnitz. Zigeuner and Reiter are determined to adapt The Loreley, the bestselling novel by the extremely reclusive writer Jakob Windisch, even though the author repeatedly opposes them. The delays caused by his refusal get producer Reiter into particular trouble: his bank wants to cut off his funding and even take over his production company. Reiter is also competing with Kriegnitz for the beautiful (and selfish) Valerie, who enjoys being courted by the two of them. But when the unattractive Dr. Gelber proposes to her and—very romantically, in his awkward way—offers her all his possessions in a jewelry box, she realizes that her two admirers, Reiter and Kriegnitz, are interested not in her herself, but only in their personal rivalry. Meanwhile, the sex-hungry gossip reporter Charlotte repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, makes advances toward Zigeuner and Reiter; in the end, she rapes Windisch, deeply distressing him. He is rescued and taken home by Serafina, the waitress who secretly admires him. But she too is disappointed when she tries to seduce him and he vehemently resists. The planned film adaptation brings a steady stream of more or less talented blondes to the production studio or restaurant, all hoping to land the role of Loreley, but none of them can make anything like an impression. A pretty girl who goes by the name Snow White, on the other hand, knows how to present herself and is more savvy: she throws herself at anyone who might help her get the role. First, she uses Rossini to gain access to the restaurant, then she turns Zigeuner’s head, and finally Reiter’s as well.