The Scarlet Empress

There’s a certain scene in this movie that will live forever in my brain. The scene with Dietrich face up close to a candle. A long take with minimal movements that expose the range of emotions within humanity, a person told with just the eyes. Obviously it draws the viewer in because Sternberg has framed Dietrich’s beauty like no one else has really framed any one but it also acts as a stark contrast to the artifice surrounding her and the entire artificiality of cinema in general. Her as the example of humanity but that in itself is a forgery because it takes place on celluloid in an art form based around coming the closest we can to emulation of emotions but it also juxtaposes with the maximalist nature of the rest of the movie. The grandness of it all distilled down to just her eyes. The real beauty of humanity. Love the simplicity in how Dietrich is able to transform her character. She goes from an extremely reserved foreigner in a foreign land to a strong densely characterized woman thru little facial cues and body movements. Her confidence growing slowly and allowing her body to open up. The only person I’ve seen come close to nailing this sort of thing is Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Such a beautiful and intelligent use of shadows to not create tensions like we see in a lot of movies but to create a sort of lush texturing that it almost feels like you’re living in a world of colour. So playfully sexy and ahead of its time. First movie watched at my new apartment. First movie at home in a couple weeks because of flooding in my old place always nice to watch a masterpiece when I’ve been without cinema for a while