Showing @ Cineworld, Edinburgh, Sat 21 Jun & Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Thu 26 Jun
Jan Soldat / Germany / 2013 / 48 mins
When asked to describe himself, Klaus Johannes Wolf suggests the name “Gollum”. Certainly he is obsequious, vulnerable, weak. But as Jan Soldat’s compelling documentary continues, it becomes clear that Wolf may choose to be submissive, but he also has a strength which the whips and chains belie.
Wolf is a 60-year-old gay German tax advisor – and a dedicated slave. For much of The Incomplete, he is shackled to a bed, naked apart from collar, shackles and what appears to be some sort of genital cage. As Wolf speaks freely about his life, his apparent lack of self-consciousness means that the shock value soon wears off and it is his words, rather than the bondage gear, which become the focus.
Viewers with more straightforward predilections may struggle to see the attraction of Wolf’s chosen lifestyle, but the more he speaks about his past, the more difficult it becomes not to play at amateur psychology. He speaks matter-of-factly about living as a closeted homosexual and his sadistic grandfather, but when he casually mentions that his father was a Wehrmacht officer, everything becomes clear. Wolf himself later describes his enslavery as a form of psychotherapy, and one begins to wonder just how many other “Gollums” are out there, trying to atone for the sins of their fathers through acts of voluntary submission.
Showing as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014