Hedy Lamarr em Ekstase (1933), realizado por Gustav Machaty
Review:
Raw, beautiful and poetic were how I thought of Ekstase the first time I saw it. Although not a completely silent movie, it is almost one, with the use of dialogue being reduced only to necessity. One watches Ekstase cannot forget its marvelous cinematography, symbolism and artistic quality. The nature of sex is being depicted through nature symbol, human imagination and emotion. Hedy Lamarr (still under the credit as Hedy Kiesler), projected an expressive, beautiful and brave performance as a young wife who gets bored of her loveless marriage to an old man. Ekstase received both good and bad reviews. Some said it did not play any importance in movie history, the others said it was definitely. I personally think it is. Not because it features Hedy as the first woman who ever appeared nude in a major film, but because the movie as a whole reveals true beauty - of nature, human, emotion; and it is an attempt to liberalize women.
Summary:
After sharing a boring wedding night with the old man she just marries to, Eva is disappointed about her marriage and leaving her husband. She returns to her father's house to stay away from her loveless marriage life. One day, when she is horse-riding, she realizes the weather is so nice and she stops to undress for a swim, leaving her clothes on the saddle. The horse gallops away, making Eva chase naked after him for her robe. The horse keeps running until he is caught by Adam, a young engineer. He is looking around for the owner of the horse when he finds Eva, naked, hiding behind the bushes. That night, when she is filled with loneliness, Eva goes to Adam's place. They make love and plan to run away together.
When Eva returns to her father's house, she finds her old husband Emil is waiting for her coming back. He begs for her forgiveness and to come back to him only to receive the answer that it is too late. Sad, Emil drives away. On his way back to town, he meets Adam and finds out that Eva is his lover. Later he kills himself of heartsickness when seeing the couples unite, dancing, drinking and being happy. Eva is terrified over her husband's death. Adam, still does not know the old man is Eva's husband, feels sorry because he cannot do anything to stop Emil from committing suicide.
Adam and Eva leave for the station. Eva cannot get over the death of Emil and feels that she holds the responsibility for his death. She thinks she cannot go on living a life with Adam with the crime she has made and silently leaves him while he is falling asleep, after giving him a tearful kiss. When Adam wakes up, Eva has already gone. Filled with sorrow, he comes back to his normal working life, dreaming of a life he would have shared with Eva and their own baby.
«The most whispered about picture in the world»
# Links
via
Hedy Lamarr.org
