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Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora's Box)

Director: G.W. Pabst
Year: 1929
Runtime: 2 hr 13 min
Source: Kanopy

Wikipedia

Roger Ebert's Review

Notable for: Pabst, the master of psycho-sexual drama, directing the iconic Louise Brooks as the ultimate free and easy seductress who will lead any man to his ruin.

Verdict: Brooks really is outstanding, although the plot doesn't hold up to modern scrutiny.  I was also very impressed with the rest of the cast as well - few films up to this point in the list have been successful at really developing more than a couple characters.  It has the first true lesbian that I've seen on screen, and she's not a caricature.

I wouldn't exactly call the film sympathetic toward its lead character, but it is at least more ambiguous than you would expect from a cursory synopsis.  Pabst makes it plain that it's the men around Brooks' character that can't behave themselves.  Although Brooks is remorseless throughout the film, in some sense she has to be, since the world isn't going to make it easy for her to get by.  The most artificial thing about Pandora's Box is the moralistic ending, where she meets her demise at the hands of - seriously - Jack the Ripper.

Best Paired With:  The Wind and Pandora's Box would make an interesting double feature with its female leads of too little and "too much" agency, respectively.  Or you could pair this with the extremely divisive Lou Reed/Metallica album Lulu, which is drawn from the same operatic source material as Pandora's Box.




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