Pandora’s Box is the 1929 film adapted from Frank Wedekind’s plays Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box.
Directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, the German silent film centers on Lulu, played by Louise Brooks. Its story follows Lulu through relationships and social conflicts that produce increasingly severe consequences.
The film’s title refers to Wedekind’s dramatic material and the Pandora metaphor rather than to a scene in which a mythological woman opens a container. This distinction matters because the film is sometimes placed beside direct adaptations of Greek mythology even though its plot is modern and theatrical.
Pandora’s Box received mixed reactions in its era but later became highly regarded. Film historians particularly emphasize Brooks’s performance, Pabst’s direction, and the film’s place in Weimar German cinema.