I would exclude moral judgment of what is presented as a portrait of sexual indulgence. What matters here is the effect such behavior has on the circle of related individuals. That the effect is uniformly negative is damming enough without the overlay of a moral code. Markus is the central character who has driven his wife to the edge of reason by his neglect, driven by his insatiable sex drive: he is bi-sexual and even a pedophile. The irony here is that Markus is both a hunter and the hunted, as the 12 year old Johannes, son of a business partner, has hatched a scheme to help his father with his debts, by seducing Markus in a blackmail scheme. Markus' daughter, Elisabeth, then proceeds to act in support of her father. Had the children been a few years older, this might seem at least plausible. As it is, the film fails to register as tragedy.
Review of The Summer House
