Marlene (1984) [Re-UP]

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Marlene (1984) [Re-UP]

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Marlene (1984) [Re-UP]

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"I've been photographed enough, thank you," snaps the 81-year-old Marlene Dietrich to director Maximilian Schell at the outset of Marlene, a frequently witty X-ray that cannily exploits a seeming weakness. Collaborating with her former Judgment at Nuremberg co-star on a biographical documentary, the legendary siren refused to appear on camera while being interviewed, or to permit Schell to film the décor and memorabilia in her Paris apartment. Instead, Marlene's crew is seen recreating her flat as the movie's main set and aiding their director in piecing together Dietrich's history as he gazes fixedly at celluloid strips of her image—at one point, amusingly anticipating Godard in King Lear, burying his head in a tangle of film.

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Marlene (1984) [Re-UP]

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The bilingual parrying between the withholding diva and her frustrated chronicler often seems like Sunset Boulevard re-imagined as a radio play, with sex removed from the equation but marlenus interruptus aplenty. Dietrich responds to questions with an unhelpful "It's all in my book" or rails against melodramatic scenes in her Hollywood vehicles, spitting "Kitsch und dreck!" (Unlike Norma Desmond, Marlene testily denies watching her own work, but when Schell finally coerces her into watching The Scarlet Empress on video, she insists he has a flawed tape when the editing doesn't match her memories.)

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Marlene (1984) [Re-UP]

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With her status as an A-list movie queen a quarter-century gone and the recycling of her iconography by Madonna yet to come, the absence of the "present" Dietrich's image from the screen comes to seem like a metaphor for her status as a mistily elusive relic. (Clips of her 1960s concert-hall tours show a white-minked, smiling but frosty icon determinedly holding onto the spotlight as she belts out "Lili Marleen" and "Falling In Love Again" under the musical direction of Burt Bacharach.) As Schell cajoles and fights with her on the soundtrack, he combats her evasions and decrees with images: A childhood photo of Dietrich with her sister negates the assertion that she was an only child, and a sequence of her arrival in America cut precisely to her dictated specifications hilariously cedes the filmmaker's role to the subject.

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While there are side servings of dish on Fritz Lang ("a terror"), feminism ("penis envy"), and method acting (improvisation is "for amateurs") and surprisingly scant words on the star's Pygmalion, Josef von Sternberg, the key to Schell's film is connecting the pain-in-the-ass octogenarian who declares herself "very practical" with the one who weeps at a sentimental poem, favored by her mother, about love surviving death. Loved and reviled in Germany after her emigration was followed by highly visible touring of the Allied front in WWII, Dietrich was in some sense homeless everywhere but Hollywood when her sex-goddess prime concluded. Long before ending with a sad clip of the elderly star crooning "Just a Gigolo" in a David Bowie film, Schell finds one answer to the enigma of Marlene when he asks her if love and sex can coexist. "Yes," sighs a woman who denied the erotic charge in her performances, "if they insist on it."

Slant Magazine

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Marlene (1984) [Re-UP]

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Today I watched a documentary on Marlene Dietrich titled 'Marlene'. It was produced in 1984 and directed by Dietrich's "Judgment at Nuremberg" co-star 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, 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 as the narration through the film, which is aided with various clips of her movies, concert performances and newsreel footage.

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To begin with, Marlene shows little interest in this whole film – it's obvious – and even less interest in the discussion of her movies – that's, sadly, even more obvious. I'm convinced now more than ever that she never enjoyed working on a movie. Still, it's 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; although I may disagree with her on some. Marlene also talks about other things besides her films. Her singing career and personal life are briefly discussed, as well as Jean Gabin, Ernest Hemingway, Josef von Sternberg and her marriage to Rudolph Sieber.

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It's a strange documentary that you can't help but like. And not everything you would like to hear (even if you consider them important in her life) is mentioned a whole lot in this; such as the war years, where Marlene's tireless efforts to entertain the allied troops stationed at the front, seemed neglected. 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.

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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 she evidently 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 unpreparedness. 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. Watching this documentary gives 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.

IMDB Reviewer

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