Ottinger's films have been said to "reject or parody the conventions of art cinema and search for new ways to construct visual pleasure, creating various spectator positions usually neglected or marginalized by cinematic address." Her films include strong elements of stylization and fantasy, as well as
ethnographic explorations. In 1966 she wrote her first screenplay, entitled
Die Mongolische Doppelschublade. Ottinger returned to
West Germany in 1969 and, in cooperation with the Film Seminar at the
University of Konstanz, founded the film club "Visuell", which she directed until 1972. She also headed a gallery and the associated press, which edited works by contemporary artists. During this time, she met
Tabea Blumenschein and , both of whom have been lead actors in her films since 1972. Ottinger developed her own surrealist film style which was marked by an abandonment of a linear plot and long scenes lingering on mostly female casts in extravagant costumes. She directed and did
stage design for
Elfriede Jelinek's
Clara S. at the Württembergisches Staatstheater in
Stuttgart in 1983, and did the same for Jelinek's
Begierde und Fahrerlaubnis in
Graz in 1986. In 1989, her film
Joan of Arc of Mongolia was entered into the
39th Berlin International Film Festival. In 2003, Ottinger was selected for a solo exhibition at the
Renaissance Society in Chicago. Titled
South East Passage, the work "is in three chapters - a travelogue of the artist's journey from southeast
Poland to the Bulgarian shores of the
Black Sea and a portrait of two coastal cities,
Odessa and
Istanbul."
South East Passage was the first of a two-part series of exhibits exploring Eastern European video work. On the occasion of the 2009
New York City premiere of
The Korean Wedding Chest, The New York Times characterized Ottinger as, "[d]uring the 1980s heyday of the
New German Cinema, having constituted a one-woman avant-garde opposition to the sulky male melodramas of
Wenders,
Fassbinder and
Herzog, her films being long, discursive, and wildly inventive." Ottinger's later work turned to some unconventional documentaries about life in various Asian regions. Ottinger's horror-drama film
The Blood Countess, based on
Elizabeth Báthory, a 16th-century Hungarian serial killer, was in development since 2010 before entering production in 2025. Directed by Ottinger and co-written with
Elfriede Jelinek, the film stars
Isabelle Huppert in the title role.
Other activies Ottinger has also worked as a photographer,
lithographer, and painter. ==Personal life==