Ruth Halbfass (Senta Berger) has been married to the industrialist Erich Halbfass (Peter Ehrlich) for sixteen years in a loveless marriage and they have a fourteen year-old teenage daughter, Aglaia (Susanne Rettig). Ruth has a love affair with Aglaia's art teacher Franz Vogelsang (Helmut Griem), who is estranged to his wife Doris Vogelsang (Margarethe von Trotta), and they are in love with each other.
Ruth is afraid to ask for the divorce to Erich, who has also a lover, Helga (Alexandra Bogojevic), and she meets Franz in the afternoons. One day, Franz seeks out Ruth's hairdresser Francesco (Marian Seidowsky) and hires him to kill Erich. Francesco introduces his friend, the killer Bonaparte (Karl-Heinz Merz), to the teacher and they buy a rifle with an arms dealer (Walter Sedlmayr). Meanwhile Ruth decides to open a business and meets the bank director Spengler. She gets 80 thousand Marcs and rent an apartment to meet Franz in his name. Franz freaks out and Ruth gives a three thousand-Marc check to him to close the rental and ends their affair. However, Franz uses the check to call off the deal with Francesco and Bonaparte. The smalltime crooks decide to use the check to blackmail Erich. And Doris Vogelsand lures Erich and brings him to the apartment rented in the name of Franz to kill him using the rifle her husband had bought. In the end, life goes on in a hypocrite society.
"Die Moral der Ruth Halbfass" is an ironic movie by Volker Schlöndorff showing a hypocrite view of part of the German society. The upper class Ruth Halbfass is in love with the lower middle class Franz Vogelsang, but she does not seem to intend to leave the comfortable life with her husband. Erich Halbfass is a male chauvinist that does not want his wife to work, but he has a mistress and closes his eyes to Ruth's affair. The marriage of Franz and Doris Vogelsang ended a long time ago, but they stay together without any explanation. The clumsy Francesco and Bonaparte give a touch of humor to this feature. Senta Berger is very beautiful in the role of Ruth Halbfass. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "A Moral de Ruth Halbfass" ("The Moral of Ruth Halbfass")
