Der Rosenmörder (1997)

German director Matti Geschonneck generates an atmosphere of darkness and fear in his made-for-TV crime thriller Der Rosenmörder (1997). The ripped-from-the-headlines plot concerns an ambitious female attorney (Natalia Wörner) who’s assigned to defend a man suspected of murdering an innocent young girl. Although the evidence against the suspect is flimsy, the lurid nature of the crime causes the prosecutors to buckle down and push aggressively for a conviction. Geschonneck is adept at capturing the three-ring-circus atmosphere of a tabloid-friendly trial, but he’s equally skilled at filming his heroine in various states of undress. Wörner looks plenty comely as she slips into the shower for a long and languorous soak.