The Artist & The Pervert

The Artist & The Pervert
Directed byBeatrice Behn
René Gebhardt
StarringGeorg Friedrich Haas
Mollena Williams-Haas
Release date
  • 2018 (2018)
CountryGermany

The Artist & The Pervert is a 2018 German documentary film by directors Beatrice Behn and René Gebhardt. It focuses on the BDSM relationship between married couple Georg Friedrich Haas and Mollena Williams-Haas. Presented without narration or commentary, the film intersperses talking heads footage of the couple with archival material. The documentary has been studied by researchers examining gender and composition, traumatophilia, and race and BDSM.

Background

The documentary centres on the BDSM relationship between married couple Georg Friedrich Haas and Mollena Williams-Haas.[1] The couple, who met in 2013 and married in 2015, have a relationship based on race play, where Georg Friedrich Haas is the dominant partner.[2][1] Directors Behn and Gebhardt first found out about the couple due to an interview they gave with The New York Times about their relationship.[3][4] Williams-Haas is an African-American sex educator; Haas is an Austrian composer, whose family were Nazis.[1] During the process of filming the documentary, Donald Trump was elected president, and the couple also began work on a piece based on Williams-Haas' alcoholism.[5] Post-production for the film was crowd-funded.[3]

Synopsis

Directed by Beatrice Behn and René Gebhardt,[6] and presented without narration or commentary, the film follows the BDSM relationship between Haas and Williams-Haas.[7] The film intersperses talking heads footage of the couple with archival material.[2] In parallel the film discusses some of Haas' work—in particular In Vain—an opus for 24 instruments that he wrote in response to the rise of the far right in Austria.[2] Footage in the documentary also includes nudity, spanking and other BDSM activities.[1]

Analysis

The documentary has been studied as part of analysis of gender and composition by Christa Brüstle, who cited Haas' connection he makes in it between his sadism and creativity in her research,[8] as does Rosa Fernández.[9] The film has also been studied by Avgi Saketopoulou, who uses it as an example that illustrates how traumatophilia offers those with trauma "a vital and often pleasurable life that goes beyond the prospects of 'trauma culture' in which victimhood is the focus".[10][11] In 2020 Ariane Cruz cited the documentary as one of three that was marking a juncture in the academic study of race and BDSM.[12] The other works cited by Cruz were: Kinky directed by Jean Claude La Marre and released in 2018; Jeremy O Harris' piece Black Exhibition (2019); Slave Play written by Harris and directed by Robert O'Hara.[12]

Awards and recognition

References

  1. ^ a b c d Rosado, Benjamín G. (2025-11-17). "Georg Friedrich Haas, composer: 'It is better to be a pervert than a murderer'". EL PAÍS English. Archived from the original on 2026-01-08. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
  2. ^ a b c Lacey, Liam (2018-04-28). "Review: 'The Artist and the Pervert'". POV Magazine. Archived from the original on 2025-12-11. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
  3. ^ a b Nguyen, Justine (August 10, 2017). "New documentary explores composer's kinky relationship". Limelight. Archived from the original on 2023-12-02. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
  4. ^ Woolfe, Zachary (23 February 2016). "A Composer and His Wife: Creativity Through Kink". Archived from the original on 2016-02-24. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
  5. ^ "The Artist & The Pervert – Holland Festival". www.hollandfestival.nl. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
  6. ^ Billington, Alex (2018-04-02). "First Teaser Trailer for Edgy 'The Artist & The Pervert' Documentary". FirstShowing.net. Archived from the original on 2022-08-13. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
  7. ^ "The Artist & The Pervert". Bayerische Staatsoper. 2022-05-18. Archived from the original on 2025-10-09. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
  8. ^ Brüstle, Christa (2023-10-26). "Gender Issues as Criticism Within (New) Music Institutions". In Grüny, Christian; Farnsworth, Brandon (eds.). New Music and Institutional Critique. Springer Nature. p. 58. ISBN 978-3-662-67131-3.
  9. ^ Fernández, Rosa. "Alexina B., Contemporary Opera as Consolation." Sound Stage Screen 3.1 (2023).
  10. ^ Bar-Haim, Shaul (2024). "On Traumatophilia and its Discontents: Avgi Saketopoulou, Sexuality Beyond Consent: Risk, Race, Traumatophilia". Psychoanalysis and History. 26 (3): 363–370. doi:10.3366/pah.2024.0527. ISSN 1460-8235.
  11. ^ Saketopoulou, Avgi (2023-02-07). Sexuality Beyond Consent: Risk, Race, Traumatophilia. NYU Press. ISBN 978-1-4798-2025-2.
  12. ^ a b Cruz, Ariane (2021). "Not a moment too soon: A juncture of BDSM and race". Sexualities. 24 (5–6): 819–824. doi:10.1177/1363460720979309. ISSN 1363-4607.
  13. ^ "Award Winners - 26th Raindance Film Festival". Raindance. 2018-10-06. Archived from the original on 2024-12-19. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
  14. ^ "THE ARTIST & THE PERVERT - Films - home". german-documentaries.de. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
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