Sugarbaby [Zuckerbaby] *** (1985, Marianne Sägebrecht, Eisi Gulp, Toni Berger, Manuela Denz, Will Spindler) – Classic Movie Review 11,854

Marianne Sägebrecht and Eisi Gulp star in writer-director Percy Adlon’s delightfully quirky and richly enjoyable 1985 German comedy film Zuckerbaby (English title Sugarbaby). It is exuberant, sad and colourful, and attractively played by its two stars, quite a treat.

Marianne Sägebrecht stars engagingly as middle-aged, overweight Marianne, lonely assistant to a funeral director (Toni Berger) in Munich. She swims in an indoor pool, commutes on the subway to the funeral home, and eats candy bars in bed while watching TV, rekindling her teenage crush for the pop singer Peter Kraus and his Fifties hit ‘Sugar Baby’. One day Marianne is attracted by her subway train driver’s voice announcing the train stations, and she becomes obsessed when it turns out that the driver Huber (Eisi Gulp) is young, tall, lean and blond like Kraus.

It is the first of Marianne Sägebrecht’s three films for Percy Adlon, followed by Bagdad Café (1987) and Rosalie Goes Shopping (1989).

The cast are Marianne Sägebrecht as Marianne, Eisi Gulp as Huber, Toni Berger as funeral director, Manuela Denz as Frau Huber, Will Spindler as train conductor, Hans Stadlbauer as train conductor, and Paul Würges as dance band leader.

It is remade as Babycakes by director Paul Schneider in 1989, starring Ricki Lake and Craig Sheffer.

Films directed by Percy Adlon: Céleste (1980), Sugarbaby [Zuckerbaby] (1985), Bagdad Café (1987), Rosalie Goes Shopping (1989), Salmonberries (1991), Younger and Younger (1993), Hawaiian Gardens (2001), Koenig’s Sphere (2001), and Mahler on the Couch (2010).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,854

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