Trixi Jancik leads a risky double life. At home, she is an obedient housewife. But when she puts on a disguise and goes to the racetrack to indulge in her secret passion, she catches a glimpse of a better life. Although she blows her grocery money, she has tasted the kind of luxury she can normally only dream about. A minor squabble at home brings the situation to a head and marks a turning point in her life: Trixi fixes her husband a lethal cocktail of pills.
Acting
Christiane Hörbiger's deadpan descent into liberation.
Direction
Harather balances domestic horror with pitch-black comedy.
Costume
Trixi's disguise vs. housewife drag — identity as performance.
Director
Paul Harather
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Austrian cinema's fascination with suffocating bourgeois respectability — this shares DNA with Haneke but actually wants you to have fun.
The original German title 'Die Gottesanbeterin' literally means 'the female praying mantis' — nature's most famous sexual cannibal, and Trixi only eats one man. Restraint?
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
DE
AT
