The Scarlet Empress

I had a great day today - it was really productive and somehow really stress-relieving. I was pretty preoccupied with cars lately, but I think I finally found the one for me. It's exciting and soothing to have made a decision and have less to worry about all the time! I really lucked out because I was able to drive the two cars I was most curious about back to back, even though one of them has been really hard to find. Really helped me make a decision, you know?

I was that my ability to make decisions carried over into how I feel about today's movie - The Scarlet Empress, directed by Josef von Sternberg in 1934. There were some things I sort of liked, but overall, I kept feeling like I didn't really "get" the appeal of the movie. This was further confused when I read Ebert's essay, which seems to frame the film as great because he finds Marlene Dietrich erotic (as does the director). The plot is maybe irrelevant, and while the movie looks cool, the charms of a lot of it were lost on me, I guess, because I wasn't really attracted to the actress.