Movie Review: Pandora’s Box (1929)
Warning: Contains Spoilers
Many films of the German Expressionist era are stories of monsters and supernatural villains. Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and The Golem are prime examples. Pandora’s Box (1929), more like Fritz Lang’s M, focuses directly on the evils that come from extreme human desire and uncontrolled behavior. Pandora’s Box is the story of Lulu, a young, beautiful prostitute and entertainer played by American actress Louise Brooks. The combination of Lulu’s naïve, narcissistic, and overtly sexual behavior results in intense suffering and multiple deaths, including her own.
Despite the title of the film, which would lead one to believe that Lulu is singlehandedly responsible for the devastation she leaves in her wake, director Georg Wilhelm Pabst paints a more complex picture. While Pabst seems to indicate that Lulu’s promiscuity and self-involvement lead to her undoing, he surrounds her with a cast of characters who are mostly selfish and opportunistic. Many of them dote on her, but would not hesitate to betray her if that betrayal could turn them a profit. As is often the case in film, a promiscuous, independent, female character stands no chance of making it through an entire movie alive. That being said, Pabst freely lays the blame for the tragedies in this film at the feet of multiple characters.
In a film with so many high points—with such fantastic performances, mesmerizing choreography, and beautiful art direction—it’s worth noting the rare weaknesses. The most glaring is Pabst’s inconsistent adherence to the 180-degree rule. Adherence to this rule of cinematography ensures that when two characters are interacting, the filmmakers imagine a line running directly between the two characters, and then keep the camera on one side of that line at all times (see fig. 1).
(Figure 1)
The purpose of this rule is to keep the audience from losing track of where the characters are in relation to one another. In the figure above, the cameras are all on one side of the 180-line, meaning that the character on the left is always looking to the right and the character on the right is always looking to the left. When filmmakers break the 180-degree rule, as Pabst does in Pandora’s Box, characters facing one another end up looking as if they’re facing the same direction (figs. 2 and 3). This confuses the audience and distracts them from the story.
(Figure 2)
(Figure 3)
While this film was made in 1929, standards of film composition had advanced to the point that Pabst and his cinematographer should have known better than to compose shots in this manner.
Aside from small technical issues such as this, the film is an absolute masterpiece. The choreography alone is worth watching repeatedly. In an early scene, Lulu takes part in a variety show, and as she prepares to take the stage, her former lover shows up with his new fiancée. Lulu throws a tantrum and refuses to go onstage, and her former lover must talk her into performing. The scene lasts a good ten minutes, and the whole time, hundreds of background actors—sometimes carrying large set pieces—move in front of, behind, and between the main characters (figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7).
(Figure 4)
(Figure 5)
(Figure 6)
(Figure 7)
This large-scale, non-stop choreography provides a realistic backdrop for the drama unfolding, and is an impressive feat of filmmaking. Moreover, Pabst goes on to stage several other scenes the same way, including a party scene, a courtroom scene, and a casino scene.
In addition to the choreography, the art direction in Pandora’s Box is a success. The sets are not just gorgeously produced. They, on occasion, even include artistic elements that comment on the drama of the film. For example, in the violent bedroom scene in which a fight between Lulu and her new husband, Dr. Schön, leads to Schön’s death, a bas-relief in the background (figs. 8 and 9) acts as a symbolic character in the scene, expressing both the intense desire and mental anguish of the characters involved.
(Figure 8)
(Figure 9)
Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s Pandora’s Box is a film that has earned its reputation as one of the great films of all time. With its masterful performances, choreography, and art direction, the film is as interesting visually as it is in terms of its investigation of human behavior. Without a doubt, all film students and film lovers should take the time to see it.
If you’re interested in seeing Pandora’s Box, I suggest buying or renting the two-disc edition from Criterion Collection:
Pandora’s Box, from Criterion Collection
It contains not only the best transfer of the film to date, but a disc of special features, including a rare interview with Louise Brooks, whose own life was as interesting as her character’s in the film.
