The Golden Glove (German: Der Goldene Handschuh) is a 2019 biographical horror film co-produced, written and directed by Fatih Akin. A co-production between Germany and France, it was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. The film is an adaptation of Heinz Strunk's eponymous novel and tells the story of the German serial killer Fritz Honka who murdered four women between 1970 and 1975 and hid their body parts in his apartment. The Golden Glove is named after the pub in the red-light district of Hamburg where the disfigured alcoholic Honka met his victims. The Golden Glove was the first film by Fatih Akin to receive an 18 rating in Germany.
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Plot
In 1970, alcoholic night watchman Fritz Honka murders Gertraud Bräuer, a prostitute, in his squalid apartment in Hamburg. He quarters the body, disposing of some parts by throwing them away in a suitcase, while the rest are kept in an improvised locker in his wall. The police find the suitcase but cannot identify the culprit.
In 1974, Fritz sees schoolgirl Petra Schulz at a bar with her classmate, Willi. Despite the briefness of their encounter, Fritz begins to recurrently fantasize about Petra. Fritz spends nearly all his free time at The Golden Glove pub, often soliciting prostitutes that reject him in disgust. One night Fritz brings home Gerda Voss, a vagrant, who is allowed to pass the night conditional on having sex with him. The next day however, Fritz allows her to stay in exchange for sex and housework, as well as a signed contract of being introduced to her attractive daughter, Rosi.
