What to expect
G. W. Pabst builds the drama around Louise Brooks’s direct, mobile performance, refusing to reduce Lulu to a simple warning. The film’s modernity lies in the tension between her vitality and the structures that exploit or condemn it.
How to ease in
The relationships accumulate quickly, so focus on how each person tries to claim, rescue, employ, or judge Lulu. The later movement changes setting and tone sharply.
Heads-up
Lulu moves through desire, scandal, and social punishment with a presence the film cannot contain.
Lulu seems free because she will not fit the role anyone else gives her. The people around her label her a seductress or a danger rather than try to understand that freedom.
Open the note ↓
Lulu seems free because she will not fit the role anyone else gives her. The people around her label her a seductress or a danger rather than try to understand that freedom. I was glad that she remained more alive than any of their labels.
— Momo
Credits & versions
- Cast
- Louise Brooks — Lulu · Fritz Kortner — Dr. Schön · Franz Lederer — Alva Schön · Carl Goetz — Schigolch
- Screenplay
- Ladislaus Vajda
- Production
- Seymour Nebenzahl · Nero-Film AG
- Cinematography
- Günther Krampf
Version map
Where to go next
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