Unique and illuminating documentary of a screen legend
Added 10/1/2009
This is surely one of the most fascinating documentaries ever made. Although Dietrich herself was never filmed (she refused to have her face shown), it is illuminating and you get a full sense of the woman she was. Schell reproduces her apartment where the interviews were held and uses film clips, song recordings, etc. and we hear Dietrich's impressions over these. Bernard, her assistant and secretary, is also interviewed. It is at times funny and poignant and always riveting. She comes across as an intelligent and outspoken woman and also a highly opinionated one with little patience. Many of her musings are very funny - on a certain biography of Von Sternberg, she says "It's the lousiest translation ever made - I burned it!" She often uses the term "kitsch" to describe tasteless things and when Schell shows a clip of her performing on stage in front of a loud pink backdrop she exclaims "Darling, I did not know the kitsch was there!" She also clashes with filmmaker Schell on several things, including how the documentary should be made. She didn't want to discuss her films ("This should not be a critical thing") and after Schell leaves in a huff one day - she says "You walked out of here like a prima donna - well, you are the first to walk out on me and the last!" Schell did eventually convince her to let them bring in a video tape machine and get her reactions to some of her work (as the assistants are clumsily setting up the equipment, she is yelling "amateurs, amateurs!") She obviously is bored to tears with "The Blue Angel" and dismisses it but offers her opinion that "The Scarlet Empress" was her best film. When pressed as to why, she flippantly says "Because it's the best film". In addition to her life's work, she and Schell discuss some of the people she worked with (on Spencer Tracy - "I loved him" and Orson Welles "The man's a genius and when you speak his name you should cross yourself.") They also talk about Germany during the war and Schell reads one of her favorite poems which causes her to cry. This is wonderful stuff and a must for fans!
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Available Agin on DVD... in Germany
Added 4/11/2009
This film is everything that has been said about it in the five-star reviews on this page: a unique masterpiece of filmmaking about a rather cantankerous (and invisible) living legend made in the last years of her tumultuous life. It has finally been commercially re-released on DVD and is available through Amazon.de (Germany) for a reasonable price (I paid about 19 euros for a new copy). The only problems: it is Region 2, PAL, and has no English subtitles. About half (more or less) of the film is in English (and a tiny bit in French), and for those parts, there are optional German subtitles, but there are no subtitles for the parts spoken in German. No extras, except it comes with a cheesy commemorative poster. The audio and video quality are superb.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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A Revealing Film About The Most Alluring Actress In Film History
Added 3/7/2009
Today I watched a documentary on Marlene Dietrich titled "Marlene". It was produced in 1984 and directed by Dietrich's "Judgment at Nuremberg" costar Maximilian Schell. I don't know how many of you know this, but Marlene agreed to do the film only if the director was in compliance with her wish not to be photographed (or her apartment for that matter), and because of this she does not appear in the film. But her Paris apartment is recreated to give the illusion that the actress is really there. Her voice, however, is used throughout the film; aided with various clips of her movies, concert performances and newsreel footage.
To begin with, Marlene shows little interest in this whole project and even less interest in the discussion of her films. I'm convinced now more than ever that she never enjoyed working on a picture. Still, it is nice to discover that she is able to remember her experiences with a lot of clarity, sometimes using the German word "kitsch" (worthless) to describe most of her film work -- though I disagree. The film also delves into other subjects besides her films, such as her concert years and some of the most important people in her life, like Jean Gabin, Ernest Hemingway, Josef von Sternberg and her husband, Rudolph Sieber.
It is a strange documentary that you can't help but like. And not everything you would like to hear is even discussed, such as her war years, where Marlene took considerable time off from her Hollywood career to entertain allied troops stationed overseas. I remember hearing Schell saying to Marlene in the beginning of the film that he didn't want this to be a typical A-B-C from childhood to present interview. Well, perhaps it would've worked better had it been that way. Much of it was a mess -- not difficult to follow necessarily -- just may have been easier on Marlene's temper had there been some kind of order to the whole thing. Maybe.
It gets a little heated towards the end of the film. Schell seems to have angered Marlene at one point by pressing her for a comment on one of her movies. I don't know how serious it was after the tape stopped rolling, but apparently she wasn't amused. In the end, it becomes apparent to the viewer how cranky Dietrich is at this point in her life. You could argue that it might have something to do with her age, but I think it has more to do with the fact that she was an incredibly disciplined woman who favored manners and intelligence over such common habits like idle gossip and negligence. In fact, her attitude during this film is so overwhelming to the point where it's just sad. She may sound bitter, but she's a woman worth listening to regardless of her attitude. Watching this documentary gives Maria Riva's book even more credibility, in my opinion, especially in the final years of Dietrich's life where you wonder if all those incidents you read about were true.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Fascinating and bizarre - don't miss it
Added 3/6/2009
Marlene
I saw this film on the day of release, together with my friend Bernard,
who appears as himself in this most unusual documentary about Marlene.
There were good reasons for her not to let herself be seen, and I think that Maximilian Schell did an OK job, but not great. I always felt that his own ego got in the way of his subject's ego, which certainly wasn't small.
We thought that by not seeing Dietrich, but just by hearing her and how she revealed so much (FULLY aware of what she was doing), that the film is far more poignant and much more of a statement about Dietrich, than if we had all been distressed by seeing her as she was when she made the film. She was no fool. Always leave while on top. I would recommend this to anyone who loves Dietrich. It is really extremely interesting.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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A Great Documentary
Added 9/9/2005
Marlene Dietrich was a recluse in her later years. According to her daughter's memoirs, she spent most of her time withering her famous legs away in bed, not leaving for days and weeks at a time. It is amazing that she let Maximillian Schell into her home to interview her for a documentary, even if she did not allow him to film her. She knew she was being difficult, but she also felt she was doing him a favor.
Faced with a difficult predicament, Schell artistically filmed a recreated home filled with Dietrich memorabilia, look-alikes, and footage from Dietrich movies. It does not go in sequence; when Schell tells Dietrich this in the movie, she seems pleased. The ending is insane and well edited. Everything blurs together and sort of serves as an outlet for Schell's frustrations during creating the documentary, I'm sure.
Half of the interviews were conducted in German and half were done in English, so one must read subtitles unless one speaks both languages. It is nice to hear Marlene speak in her native tongue; she often says "quatsch," or "nonsense" in German. She is stubborn and opinionated, sometimes contradicts herself, but is always interesting. She speaks against feminism, being critical of her, and anything kitschy.
Dietrich did not want the film released when she saw it. She thought it made her look bad and tarnished her legend. In fact, it made me love her more. Dietrich is not a sugary sweet figure and never has been. This documentary emphasizes that point. She was insanely stubborn and opinionated, often comically and always respectably. However, the finale of the film shows Dietrich in her last film singing "Just a Gigolo" quite emotionally. Then she recites a sad poem along with Schell and breaks down in the middle of it. It is obvious that Marlene Dietrich was not the hard-as-nails figure she always wanted herself to appear to be; she had a heart. It is revealed in this film.
4 out of 5 people found this helpful.
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Unique and illuminating documentary of a screen legend
Added 10/1/2009
This is surely one of the most fascinating documentaries ever made. Although Dietrich herself was never filmed (she refused to have her face shown), it is illuminating and you get a full sense of the woman she was. Schell reproduces her apartment where the interviews were held and uses film clips, song recordings, etc. and we hear Dietrich's impressions over these. Bernard, her assistant and secretary, is also interviewed. It is at times funny and poignant and always riveting. She comes across as an intelligent and outspoken woman and also a highly opinionated one with little patience. Many of her musings are very funny - on a certain biography of Von Sternberg, she says "It's the lousiest translation ever made - I burned it!" She often uses the term "kitsch" to describe tasteless things and when Schell shows a clip of her performing on stage in front of a loud pink backdrop she exclaims "Darling, I did not know the kitsch was there!" She also clashes with filmmaker Schell on several things, including how the documentary should be made. She didn't want to discuss her films ("This should not be a critical thing") and after Schell leaves in a huff one day - she says "You walked out of here like a prima donna - well, you are the first to walk out on me and the last!" Schell did eventually convince her to let them bring in a video tape machine and get her reactions to some of her work (as the assistants are clumsily setting up the equipment, she is yelling "amateurs, amateurs!") She obviously is bored to tears with "The Blue Angel" and dismisses it but offers her opinion that "The Scarlet Empress" was her best film. When pressed as to why, she flippantly says "Because it's the best film". In addition to her life's work, she and Schell discuss some of the people she worked with (on Spencer Tracy - "I loved him" and Orson Welles "The man's a genius and when you speak his name you should cross yourself.") They also talk about Germany during the war and Schell reads one of her favorite poems which causes her to cry. This is wonderful stuff and a must for fans!
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Available Agin on DVD... in Germany
Added 4/11/2009
This film is everything that has been said about it in the five-star reviews on this page: a unique masterpiece of filmmaking about a rather cantankerous (and invisible) living legend made in the last years of her tumultuous life. It has finally been commercially re-released on DVD and is available through Amazon.de (Germany) for a reasonable price (I paid about 19 euros for a new copy). The only problems: it is Region 2, PAL, and has no English subtitles. About half (more or less) of the film is in English (and a tiny bit in French), and for those parts, there are optional German subtitles, but there are no subtitles for the parts spoken in German. No extras, except it comes with a cheesy commemorative poster. The audio and video quality are superb.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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A Revealing Film About The Most Alluring Actress In Film History
Added 3/7/2009
Today I watched a documentary on Marlene Dietrich titled "Marlene". It was produced in 1984 and directed by Dietrich's "Judgment at Nuremberg" costar Maximilian Schell. I don't know how many of you know this, but Marlene agreed to do the film only if the director was in compliance with her wish not to be photographed (or her apartment for that matter), and because of this she does not appear in the film. But her Paris apartment is recreated to give the illusion that the actress is really there. Her voice, however, is used throughout the film; aided with various clips of her movies, concert performances and newsreel footage.
To begin with, Marlene shows little interest in this whole project and even less interest in the discussion of her films. I'm convinced now more than ever that she never enjoyed working on a picture. Still, it is nice to discover that she is able to remember her experiences with a lot of clarity, sometimes using the German word "kitsch" (worthless) to describe most of her film work -- though I disagree. The film also delves into other subjects besides her films, such as her concert years and some of the most important people in her life, like Jean Gabin, Ernest Hemingway, Josef von Sternberg and her husband, Rudolph Sieber.
It is a strange documentary that you can't help but like. And not everything you would like to hear is even discussed, such as her war years, where Marlene took considerable time off from her Hollywood career to entertain allied troops stationed overseas. I remember hearing Schell saying to Marlene in the beginning of the film that he didn't want this to be a typical A-B-C from childhood to present interview. Well, perhaps it would've worked better had it been that way. Much of it was a mess -- not difficult to follow necessarily -- just may have been easier on Marlene's temper had there been some kind of order to the whole thing. Maybe.
It gets a little heated towards the end of the film. Schell seems to have angered Marlene at one point by pressing her for a comment on one of her movies. I don't know how serious it was after the tape stopped rolling, but apparently she wasn't amused. In the end, it becomes apparent to the viewer how cranky Dietrich is at this point in her life. You could argue that it might have something to do with her age, but I think it has more to do with the fact that she was an incredibly disciplined woman who favored manners and intelligence over such common habits like idle gossip and negligence. In fact, her attitude during this film is so overwhelming to the point where it's just sad. She may sound bitter, but she's a woman worth listening to regardless of her attitude. Watching this documentary gives Maria Riva's book even more credibility, in my opinion, especially in the final years of Dietrich's life where you wonder if all those incidents you read about were true.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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