The 1929 film Pandora’s Box adapts Frank Wedekind’s character Lulu.
Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s film draws on Wedekind’s plays Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box, whose central figure is Lulu. Louise Brooks plays her in the movie, which follows Lulu’s relationships, social influence, and increasingly dangerous circumstances. The character is often interpreted through themes of sexuality, power, hypocrisy, and the treatment of women.
The title does not mean that Lulu is literally Pandora from Greek mythology. Instead, the film uses the Pandora association as a symbolic frame for a story about desire and consequences. Wedekind created Lulu for the stage in the late nineteenth century, and Pabst reshaped the material for silent cinema.
Lulu is sometimes confused with other famous European literary women, such as Salome or Nora Helmer. Those characters belong to different works and authors. Naming the character is also more precise than answering with the actress, because Louise Brooks played Lulu rather than being the character herself.