Lulu is the central figure of G. W. Pabst’s 1929 film Pandora’s Box.
Lulu is portrayed by Louise Brooks and serves as the focus of the film’s relationships, conflicts, and escalating consequences. The character originated in Frank Wedekind’s plays Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box, which provided the source material for Pabst’s adaptation.
Lulu is not the Pandora of Greek mythology. The film borrows Pandora’s name for its title but tells a modern story about a socially disruptive woman moving through relationships shaped by desire, money, status, and control. This distinction is one of the most important ways to avoid confusing the film with the ancient myth.
Brooks’s performance made Lulu one of the best-known female characters in silent cinema. The role is often discussed in relation to changing ideas about sexuality and female autonomy in Weimar-era culture. Pabst’s film remains especially notable for the way its visual storytelling presents Lulu as both an object of fascination and a person constrained by the society around her.