Pandora's Box

1929, Germany, Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 109 min.
With Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, and Francis Lederer
Introduced by filmmaker Lana Wilson
Lulu is the alluring, young mistress to an already affianced wealthy financier. His desire to see the naïve seductress become a star is not enough for Lulu. She tries to convince him to marry her, but does not have luck on her side. Silent icon Louise Brooks plays Lulu, the tragic heroine, in GW Pabst’s Expressionist classic.
“Brooks’ pleasure-seeking brightness in Pandora’s Box makes the movie’s ultimate darkness so powerful. When her bulb goes out, so does the film “˜s. Pabst wasn’t merely making a star. He was filming a candidate for cinematic sainthood.” ““Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe, July 2006
“The erotic nihilism of the movie is startling, with vivid close-ups of Lulu abandoning herself to tears, denoting, ambiguously, other forms of sensual abandonment.” ““The Guardian, December 2006