Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich has been celebrated, debated, photographed and, of course, shown on film to such an extent over the last century that, for many European and North American audiences, her first name suffices to introduce her.
Notwithstanding all the angles history and cameras have taken on her, a thread runs through her work and life: Marlene Dietrich did not shy away from disrupting film and society – from challenging norms to her show-stopping presence on-screen that interrupts classical narratives to focus all eyes on her and her staging. Precisely these diverse challenges with which Marlene has confronted her audiences have let her be perceived as a role model to this day by different communities: Marlene was provocative as a working mother, as a bisexual star who practiced cross-dressing, as a fashion and style icon who created her own image, as an actress who intervened politically and took a clear stand for freedom, tolerance and democracy. In a selection of major films, this retrospective therefore explores Marlene as a disruptive force in cinema history.
Curated by Deutsche Kinemathek