Paholainen on nainen

It has to be said that this film is an amazing achievement. The Devil is a Woman is a lush and vibrant film, and you really do get the impression that a lot of thought has gone into every scene. The script allows the characters to grow in front of the audience's eyes both in relation to each other and in their own right. Furthermore, the acting is fantastic; with Lionel Atwill convincing as a heartbroken former lover of Marlene Dietrich's cold hearted femme fatale. It's Dietrich that commands every scene she's in and gives an all round amazing performance in the title role. Furthermore, the Spanish setting is superb, and provides a beautiful location for this complex love story to take place in. But it's not the technical elements that make this film so great; it's the plot. We first get to know the characters during a conversation between a fancy man and a former lover of the same woman. The older man tells the younger of his times with said lady, and we get a fully painted picture of all the protagonists through this. The film offers a great portrait of love and frustration; with the title itself referring more towards the lead man's experience with the title character rather than the character herself. The Devil is a Woman is certainly not a fluffy romance flick, but it is a film that works on two levels; on one hand, it tells its story straight and so is easy to get into, but on the other it provides a story with a chasm of depth if you're willing to look for it.