In the silent film Pandora’s Box, who plays the central character Lulu?

Louise Brooks plays the central character Lulu in the silent film Pandora’s Box.

Pandora’s Box is a 1929 German film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. Brooks portrays Lulu, a charismatic woman whose relationships and social position lead to a tragic series of events. The film was adapted from plays by Frank Wedekind, especially Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box, rather than directly retelling the ancient Greek myth.

Brooks’s performance and distinctive bobbed haircut became central to the film’s later reputation. Although the movie was not universally celebrated when first released, it was rediscovered and critically reassessed during later decades. It is now widely treated as one of the defining films of the Weimar-era German cinema.

The title can cause confusion with the 1951 film Pandora and the Flying Dutchman. The two films are separate productions, with different directors, plots, and leading actresses. Pabst’s film is also commonly catalogued under the German title Die Büchse der Pandora.