In modern-day Berlin (1987), Frau Kutowski goes insane, believing herself to be the (real-life) notorious Anita Berber, a nude art dancer/drug addict/scandalous figure of post-WWI Berlin. (Berber died of tuberculosis in 1928, having achieved significant success and recognition throughout the dance world.) Frau Kutowski is placed in a mental hospital, where in her own mind she acts out Berber’s final days, including in her fantasies the hospital’s staff and patients, to represent Anita’s friends and associates.

Rosa Von Prauenheim fantasizes that bisexual Anita Berber still lives in the person of a raucous 75-year-old Lotti Huber.