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The presumed first film adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s drama “Earth Spirit”: Wedekind’s Lulu is called Lil here, is the foster daughter of Iwan Gorell and works as a dancer in a variety theater. When the sculptor Gregor Magnussen develops an equally artistic and romantic obsession with Lil and brings her to his home, he is abandoned by his wife and child.

With a statue of Lil, the artist achieves great fame, but Magnussen is not the only man obsessed with Lil. She begins an affair with a race car driver, prompting Björn Romberg to warn his friend Magnussen – only to fall under Lil’s spell himself.

Abandoned by his muse, Magnussen succumbs to a “severe nervous fever.” Eventually, he finds Lil again in a variety theater, where she performs as a snake dancer and has long since cast her spell on yet another man…

Paul Otto’s early film adaptation impresses with its lively production design and a surprising frankness that led to isolated performance bans and youth restrictions for the film.

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