Pandora's Box (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #16.1 extract: Pandora's Box (1929)

Though the direction and cinematography are very striking throughout, I did not have a good time with Pandora's Box. 

The root of all my problems were quite evident after the first few scenes; whilst I quickly gathered together who each character was and what their motivations were, I was never sure if and how I was supposed to be empathising with them. And because I assumed all control over characters was relinquished, I began to really disconnect from and then despise our protagonist, Lulu - because there is nothing redeemable about her character. However, when it became obvious that we are supposed to have seen Lulu as innocent and the victim of a world with laws such as, to quote Roger Ebert, "Anyone who looks that great, and lives life on her own terms, has to be swatted down by fate or the rest of us will grow discouraged", I was pretty much ready to walk away. 

If this is the questionable point of this movie, then it is poorly made in the first hour, leaving the final half pretty exhausting. Though I was confident that this was a promising picture, I've been left with nothing other than exasperated disappointment.