La Femme et le Pantin/The She Devils (1898) - Pierre Louÿs
Related: erotic fiction - femme fatale - women - devil - 1898 - Pierre Louÿs
Pierre Louys' source novel was first made into a silent film in 1929 by French director Jacques De Baroncelli, featuring Conchita Montenegro; but it is better known as the basis for Josef von Sternberg's 1935 classic, "The Devil is a Woman," which starred Marlene Dietrich. Other films made from Louys' book include "La Femme et la Pantin" (directed by Julien Duvivier, starring Brigitte Bardot), That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) and "The Female."
Film adaptation: The Devil Is a Woman (1935) - Josef von Sternberg - That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) - Luis Bunuel
Description
[T]he Devil Is a Woman, a title forced on von Sternberg, is adapted from Pierre Louys’ 1898 novel Le Femme et le pantin, as was Bunuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire. It’s set during a hallucinatory Spanish carnival during which all rules are suspended and license reigns. Von Sternberg’s most synthetic film, it brims with delirious artifice: in lighting, décor, costume, performance, narrative movement. At times, the dialogue makes sense only if one assumes that Dietrich and her director are speaking directly to each other about their cinematic collaboration. --Kathleen Murphy
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