Sharp Plotting, Wit Give Lift to This ‘Trio’ of Pickpockets

Hermine Huntgeburth’s “The Trio” is a zesty, sexy, knockabout German comedy in the irreverent tradition of Doris Dorrie’s “Men . . .” and Sonke Wortmann’s “Maybe . . . Maybe Not.” It affords a terrific role for Gotz George, one of his country’s most durable and versatile stars.

George, son of Heinrich George, a screen icon of the ‘20s through the ‘40s, is a burly man of 60 known for his macho roles and has been in films for 45 years. With “The Trio” he adds an extra dimension to that image by playing a gay man, Zobel, in a long-term relationship with the increasingly dissatisfied Karl (Christian Redl). What Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault’s characters were to the world of cabaret in “La Cage aux Folles,” Zobel and Karl are to that of professional pickpocketing.

Based in Hamburg, the lovers live in a large van with Zobel’s teenage daughter Lizzie (Jeanette Hain), offspring of a youthful heterosexual indiscretion and a full-fledged partner in Zobel and Karl’s pickpocketing routine. Zobel is a completely happy man, his ardor for Karl undiminished, but Karl is getting bored and would literally like to kick up his heels. More seriously, Karl is beginning to slip up on the job, eventually winding up in the hospital when he’s struck by a car.

Lizzie immediately suggests as a replacement for Karl a young guy hanging about her uncle’s carnival, Rudolf (Felix Eitner), whom we first met when he was foolish enough to think he could get away with lifting Karl’s wallet.

Rudolf, who is scruffy but not unattractive, proves a quick learner, but in taking Karl’s place in the thieving operation so long perfected by Zobel, he creates complications predicted by neither father nor daughter. Huntgeburth and her co-writers match their imaginative plotting and sharp wit with considerable psychological insight. “The Trio” is expertly constructed, moving briskly from broad humor to unexpected pathos to all-out farce and culminating in a mellow self-knowledge and acceptance on the part of one and all--if only for the moment.

None of the actors misses a nuance, but it is George who is the commanding presence and rightly so. His Zobel is a warm, engaging scoundrel of a man, still attractive though he feels compelled to go for an overly obvious dye job on his hair and beard--and is not above relying upon some cosmetics to hold on to the illusion of youth. (“The Trio” is ripe for a Hollywood remake, provided the light, deft touch of the original is preserved--and the role of Zobel is reserved for Burt Reynolds; John Malkovich would be a nifty Karl.) Lizzie and Rudolf brim over with youthful, risk-taking spirits and are played with skill and ease by Hain and Eitner.

This wry, stylish film was co-produced by veteran distributor and producer Laurens Straub, and it completes an informal trilogy of gay-themed films made under Straub’s auspices. First was Frank Ripploh’s loopy, autobiographical “Taxi zum Klo” (1980), in which a philandering Ripploh struggled to work out a stable relationship with his monogamous stay-at-home lover Bernd, and “A Man Called Eva” (1982), in which esteemed stage and screen actress Eva Mattes managed to pull off the challenging task of playing her own complex and destructive mentor, R.W. Fassbinder. “The Trio” is a noteworthy, if more mainstream, successor to the earlier films.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: language, nudity, some sex, adult themes.

‘The Trio’

(Das Trio)

Gotz George: Zobel

Jeanette Hain: Lizzie

Felix Eitner: Rudolf

Christian Redl: Karl

An Attitude Films release. Director Hermine Huntgeburth. Producers Laurens Straub, Pia Frankenberg. Screenplay by Horst Sczerba, Volker Einrauch and Huntgeburth. Cinematographer Martin Kukula. Editor Ingrid Martell. Music Niki Reiser. Costumes Peri de Braganca. Art director Katharina Woppermann. In German, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes.

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