In Pandora’s Box (1929), Louise Brooks portrays Lulu.
Lulu is the central figure in Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s film, adapted from Frank Wedekind’s plays. She is presented as magnetic, socially disruptive, and difficult for the people around her to control. The plot follows the consequences of her relationships, moving from wealth and public attention toward crime and desperation.
Brooks’s interpretation made Lulu an enduring screen character. Her performance combines apparent innocence with deliberate independence, resisting simple classifications of Lulu as either victim or villain. That ambiguity is one reason the film has remained important in discussions of gender, sexuality, celebrity, and censorship.
Other characters in the film include Countess Geschwitz, played by Alice Roberts, and Alwa Schön, played by Franz Lederer. These names can be confused with Lulu because the story has a large network of relationships, but Lulu is the role associated most strongly with Brooks.