92 min.–fiction(1930)
vo : en/sous-titres:fr
14 ans
Amy Jolly (Marlène Dietrich) is a singer in a cabaret in Morocco, which is then under French military occupation. During a performance in a tuxedo and top hat, she is seduced by a legionnaire (Gary Cooper) while the prominent Monsieur La Bessière has proposed to her. A love triangle with multiple twists and turns— “a tumultuous, fierce, and all-consuming love story.” With heightened eroticism and splendid, otherworldly sets, the film offers a scathing and cynical reflection on romantic illusion, obsessive love, and the loss of self.
After *The Blue Angel*, Marlene Dietrich once again takes on the role of a cabaret singer, proudly displaying an ambivalent gender expression. The film was a commercial and critical success. It marked the emergence of both the myth of the femme fatale and a Hollywood star who went on to become a queer icon.
