Pandora's Box (1929)

Like Citizen Kane or Casablanca, Pandora's Box is G.W. Pabst's untouchable film from the silent era. Critics tremble at the awesome might that is Louise Brooks' "Lulu," but I nearly fell asleep. Once before have I tried to watch this movie, but I did not even make it to the halfway mark. Last night I watched it in its entirety, but only with the help of my two friends Caffeine, and Pause Button. I solicited their help liberally.

Funnily enough, the synopsis of the film is very intriguing and, watching it, I felt that had it not been silent or done by another director (Fritz Lang, perhaps) it might have been a film that I like very much. It is a tale of a young girl, Lulu, who sexual charm gets her everything she wants and more. She is "versed in the fine art of flattery," but her powers of seduction lead to her eventual demise. In a misunderstanding between her jealous husband and a man we later learn is Lulu's father a gun is pulled, and by accident her emotional and unfortunate husband is shot dead.

She stands trial for manslaughter, but due to a fire in the courtroom she manages to escape. Lulu is helped by the son of her late husband, Alwa, who has always been keen on Lulu. but never had the heart to break up his father and his father's mistress (which she was until their wedding night. That seems like an obvious statement, but it is not). The two run off, and Lulu's indiscretion gets her into more trouble than she can bargain for. At this point, however, her lack of control now envelopes those around her making the lives of her friends and loved ones just as precarious as hers. Her unrestrained self-absorption finally drives them to London where she finally meets her fate in a most unusual and grotesquely ironic fashion.

This summary is awesome--the plot was awesome, and I wanted so much to be invested. I have, in the past, found it difficult to remain invested in silent dramas. If they are short and sweet like any Chaplin or Keaton film I enjoy it immensely, but it takes a rare drama to keep me engaged. To be sure, there are those out there that rank amongst my favorite films--The Passion of Joan of Arc, Metropolis--but this was not one of them.

Brooks is stunningly beautiful with her doe eyes and her "come hither" smile, and her character was very interesting. Very rarely do we meet characters who care about almost nothing but themselves, but Lulu is almost sociopathic in the way that she views those around her. Men are nothing but walking wallets, without feelings, and whose sole purposes are to provide for her the resources she needs to get what she wants in the immediate. She is someone to be hated, to be spit upon, but at the same time the audience hates themselves for falling for her charms. Her powers of seduction are too great for mortal men and, much to the dismay of the men she encounters, Lulu knows it.

God, I wish I liked this film. I like thinking about it, but it was a chore. I long, grueling chore.

2/4