Eva (Gudrun Landgrebe) leaves her bourgeois husband for a more adventuresome life on her own as a high-class prostitute. After a rather hesitant beginning, she proves to have as special talent as a dominatrix. Eva's independence ends when she falls in love with Chris (Mathieu Carriere), a handsome gigolo whose clientele includes men and women.
They set up a place of their own — he handles his customers downstairs; she take care of business upstairs. They are very successful and seemingly content with each other. Then the invidious specter of bourgeois values raises its head again. Chris wants to marry Eva, have a child, and open a restaurant. She wants none of it since for the first time in her life she is enjoying herself. Power over men is for her an aphrodisiac.
A Woman in Flames , one of the most commercial films in German screen history, is directed by Robert Van Ackeren who is interested in the political dimensions of sex. Chris's ire is raised not only by Eva's rejection of his dream but also by the realization that she derives pleasure from dominating men. The film's exploration of sado-masochistic sex in the context of a capitalist and right-wing German society offers food for thought. However, it is Gudrun Landgrebe's performance which lights up this compelling movie and makes it a fitting entry for the "Best Foreign Film" Oscar.