Info
Germany 1923
Director: Leopold Jessner
Duration: approx. 85 min
Screenplay: Carl Mayer (based on the tragedy of the same name by Frank Wedekind from 1895)
Cinematography: Axel Graatkjaer
Short and Sweet
The life of the young and free-spirited Lulu is shaped by numerous relationships with men who, sooner or later, all fall for her.
At first, she is the companion of the much older and wealthy journalist Dr. Schön, who once rescued her from the clutches of a certain Schigolch and took her off the streets.
When Schön decides to leave Lulu because he hopes to advance socially by marrying a minister’s daughter, Lulu turns to Schön’s son Alwa, even though his father cannot truly part from her. Schön then arranges for her to marry his acquaintance, the medical councillor Dr. Goll. He soon dies when he catches Lulu in flagrante with the painter Schwarz. Lulu and Schwarz subsequently marry, yet she continues her affair with Schön…
About the film
The most famous silent film actress of the time, Asta Nielsen, plays the role of the “man-devouring” Lulu under the direction of theater expert Leopold Jessner. At her side is one of the best-known stage actors, Albert Bassermann. The film adaptation illustrates the effort to merge the young medium of “motion pictures” with the “great serious art of the theater.”
About the Music
The musical version was created in memory of the film-music dramaturgy of the silent film era. It draws on structural ideas from that time (organizing scenes, defining characters, etc.) but is a new composition, thus creating a connection between “old images and new sounds.”