Cesarina Rupert, a modern day Messalina, is Claudio’s wife, a patriot and a brilliant inventor of war vehicles for France. Be­tween personal drama and spy intrigues, this mismatched couple is destined for a tragic end. Pina Menichelli demonstrates her impressive and expressive range in her role as Dumas’ dark heroine “the evil woman who undermines society, breaks up families, dismembers the mother country, challenges man, dishonors the woman she is impersonating, and destroys those who do not crush her”. The result is a perfor­mance that captures the excesses but also the hypnotic and erotic power of what Dalì defined as “hysterical cinema”. Even if lo­cal critics snubbed the film, not only be­cause of the excesses of the female lead but also the un-original storyline, it is re­markable to see advanced social and politi­cal themes of the times addressed, such as abortion and the aspirations of the Jewish people for a national state.