The Devil is a Woman
Josef von Sternberg
Marlene Dietrich, Lionel Atwill, Edward Everett Horton, Alison Skipworth, César Romero, Don Alvarado, Tempest Storm, Francisco Moreno, Max Barwyn, Eumenio Blanco, Eddie Boden, Jill Dennett, Luisa Espinel, John George, Laurence Grant, Hank Mann, Edwin Maxwell, Cupid Morgan, Stanley Price, Donald Reed, Constantine Romanoff, Henry Roquemore, Charles Sell
1935
USA
Completed
English, Spanish
79 minutes
Detailed introduction
This film (drama)Also known asThe Devil Is a Woman，is aUSAProducerwomen sex，At1935Released in year
。The dialogue language isEnglish, Spanish，Current Douban rating6.4(For reference only)。
The film recalls through a series of vignettes the obsession of an elderly man with an extremely proud woman. The story is set against the backdrop of a fantastical Spanish carnival. In a café, the old man recounts his experiences to a young friend he met during the parade, who is also a heartbroken individual. Although he swears he will not follow in the old man's footsteps, he still eagerly anticipates his evening rendezvous with his lover. The stunning Spanish woman drives men into a frenzy; the powerful military officer is teased and provoked to lavish money on her, only to end up being manipulated and facing off against a rival, almost losing his life in the process.
The same novel became Buñuel's surreal "That Obscure Object of Desire" (1977); Sternberg himself directed, and the duality of the femme fatale's allure under dreamlike light makes it even harder to resist. Is it the woman's capriciousness, or the man's obsessive self-torment, that reflects the true essence of the carnival of desire? The great director's last collaboration with the goddess faced diplomatic turmoil and moral criticism (a seventeen-minute segment was cut), yet Marlene Dietrich claimed it was her dearest film.