Today is "Mardi Gras" (Fat Tuesday): Carnival offers an excellent pretext for indulging in fashion, providing the perfect occasion to don extravagant costumes.
However, those of us who can't take part in Carnival festivities for various reasons, can maybe enjoy a Carnival-themed film, such as "The Devil Is a Woman" directed by Josef von Sternberg, and starring Marlene Dietrich as the main character, Concha Pérez (given its romantic subject, the film is also apt for tomorrow, St Valentine's Day).
Adapted from Pierre Louÿs' 1898 "La Femme et le pantin" (The Woman and the Puppet), but with the S&M inclinations of the novel eliminated (here Concha tortures her victims psychologically rather than physically...), and with a screenplay by John Dos Passos, this 1935 film portrays a man's obsession.
The film opens with a typical Carnival scene in a sort of imaginary and dreamy Spain: the streets are packed with people celebrating and wearing costumes and masks.
Antonio Galvan (Cesar Romero), a young revolutionary home from his exile in Paris to visit his parents, makes eye contact with the beautiful Concha, who is wearing an extravagant costume and a delicate lace mask and is sitting on a float in the Carnival parade. Antonio, wearing a bat-shaped mask (bizarre, if we think that decades later, in the '60s, he starred as the Joker in the Batman TV series…), follows her and obtains a promise, a note inviting him to meet with her in person that evening.
Yet, a chance encounter with a friend he has not seen in years, Don Pasqual (Lionel Atwill), a middle-aged aristocrat and former Captain of the Civil Guard, reveals Antonio the story of Concha. The beautiful temptress has indeed been a disgrace for Don Pasqual, who fell madly in love with her but ended up being humiliated and manipulated by Concha.
Through flashbacks we discover Don Pasqual's tumultuous relationship with Concha. But despite his friend's story and his initial reluctance, Antonio ultimately falls under Concha's spell.
A light romance, the film has a complex rhythm as it keeps on jumping back and forth between Don Pasqual's story and the present and quite often rather than feeling sad for how Don Pasqual loses reputation, career and money on Concha, you just feel happy for her (especially when Don Paqual assaults her, but Concha emerges the next day even more triumphant).
Marlene Dietrich as Concha Pérez is a beautiful, and heartless gold-digger and femme fatale. Manipulative, haughty and naughty, Concha is dangerously irresistible, devilish and cruel.
Reminiscent of Carmen in Prosper Mérimée's "Carmen" and Georges Bizet's eponymous opera, Concha is the object of male desire and a product of male fantasy, the story is indeed told from the point of view of two men who met her.
Concha is therefore ambivalent, repulsive and attractive, a woman with an evil beauty that seduces and makes suffer and her behavior is reflected in her relationship with Don Pasqual - an army officer who has a difficult relationship with her.
He is aggressive with her, but also vulnerable when Concha is around him, and we see through a series of episodes a number of scenarios in which Don Pasqual is usually the victim of Concha, constantly seduced and rejected, loved but deserted.
In von Sternberg's films costumes are never secondary and quite often they turn into an essential element of the narration.
Costume-wise this film is an assault to the senses, cited by Susan Sontag as the campiest of all the Dietrich-von Sternberg collaborations. Dietrich costumes for this film were designed by Travis Banton, a long-time collaborator of the actress.
In the opening scene, Concha mesmerizes with her costume adorned with a long black veil featuring playful pom-poms, complemented by a delicate lace mask and gloves. As she descends the steps, the pom-poms sway enchantingly, adding to her allure.
However, in a flashback by Don Pasqual, Concha appears in a starkly contrasting attire, resembling a nun as she travels on a train. Yet, her rebellious and mischievous nature quickly dispels any notion of piety.
At the cigarette factory, Concha stands out amidst the simplicity of her peers, with flowers adorning her hair, and an oversized tortoiseshell comb. Concha wears different combs with her dresses and this accessory seems to grow in size throughout the film (a bit like the sleeves in the costumes in "Poor Things"), symbolizing the escalating complexity of her relationship with Don Pasqual. Concha's accessories accentuate indeed her allure and mystique.
Following Don Pasqual's assault, Concha emerges clad in a dark ensemble and wearing a necklace bearing five heart-shaped pendants (again very apt for tomorrow, St. Valentine's).
Positioned straight atop her head rather than donned on one side as all the other combs, the comb she wears in this scene signifies her resilience, she is indeed standing tall even after what happened, contrasting with Don Pasqual's weakened state. Soon after, indeed, she flees with another man, asserting her newfound strength.
As the narrative shifts to the present, Concha goes to meet Antonio in a white ensemble; she wears her shawl with long fringes over her comb, so that the fringes obscure her face like a soft and seductive screen. Her draped dress hugs her sensually and makes her look like a white marble statue, while a white lace ensemble with a matching mask that she dons towards the end of the film echoes the elegance of her initial costume.
White is also the colour of her costume when she goes to beg Governor Paquito to secure Antonio's release from prison.
Her ample hat and handkerchief on which her name is embroidered and that she uses almost comically like a flag, turn her from a serious heartbroken lady into a shrewd comic character.
Concha dons a version of the same dress to say goodbye to Pasqual in hospital in a sort of macabre look, maybe to hint at widowhood, or maybe as another pretense, knowing Concha.
Concha's costumes, outrageously sumptuous and elaborate, serve as glamorous weapons of seduction. Lace abounds, creating sheer effects and mirroring the chiaroscuro technique that the director plays with in the film in a symbolical way to hint at the duality of her persona.
Throughout the film, Concha embodies Carnival's spirit, discarding one costume for another, assuming various identities through her wardrobe, makeup, and accessories. With each guise (nun, factory girl, chanteuse…), she orchestrates a grand spectacle of desire, defying societal norms and winning new victims with ease.
Dietrich here wears feminine clothes, but her masculinity is suggested in her active role as a seductress rather than seduced. Men would seduce a woman and abandon her, Concha reverses the roles and seduces men proving pleasure in making her victims suffer, while escaping from the poverty of her lower class status by manipulating he lovers.
Despite its accolade for Best Cinematography at the Venice Film Festival, "The Devil Is a Woman" was a box office flop.
Besides, the Spanish government was enraged by the depiction of the country in the film and in particular they complained about the unfavorable portrait of the police, presented as buffoons.
The movie was subsequently outlawed in Francoist Spain and the Spanish government demanded Paramount studios to remove the film from circulation, otherwise all Paramount films would have been banned from Spain.
Paramount accepted and destroyed even the master print - it was only thanks to the fact that von Sternberg and Dietrich had kept their own personal copies that the film resurfaced in later years.
The last of the seven films Marlene Dietrich did with von Sternberg, "The Devil Is a Woman," is not just a film for Carnival, though: in this tale of desire, obsession, and betrayal there are plenty of visually stunning details, motifs (especially cockerels used as decorative motifs for fans View this photo and earrings View this photo), embellishments, embroideries and accessories that can inspire fashion designers, from Concha's extravagant combs to her tights with lace inserts.
So, if you're a fashion designer or a fashion design student, take notes while watching the film and try to spot the details in Concha's fierce look. Have a lovely Mardi Gras!
Comments