阿尔劳娜 Alraune / A Daughter of Destiny

ALRAUNE is another spectacular piece of early German cinema, surprisingly overlooked by film buffs and historians alike. The film is not "expressionist" in the way of CALIGARI or METROPOLIS, but fans of those films will enjoy it regardless.
The plot (without spoilers) is creepy to begin with: a scientist (Paul Wegener) decides to experiment with humanity by creating a woman from the seed of a hanged man impregnated into a prostitute. Using two reprehensible creatures as parents, as well as artificial insemination (which is implied in the film, not stated as some articles on the film have indicated), the doctor aims to see if an individual's humanity is the product of nature or nurture.
The woman he creates, called Alraune (although called "Mandrake" in the english title cards, a name ill-fitting the overtly feminine character) is played by Brigitte Helm. No better casting for this part could have been made at the time: Helm's performance here far surpasses that of her most famous film role (the robotrix from Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS) and (I feel) solidifies her position as top femme fatale of that era. Her sensuous, provocative movements, gestures, stares and sneers even outshine those of Marlene Deitrich in years to come. There are moments where Helm slips into the silliness that harms her role as Maria in METROPOLIS (flailing about wantonly), but these are kept to a minimum by the director.
Paul Wegener, as the doctor, also proves to be an actor out of time. His performance would stand up to modern criticism, as it lacks the usual melodramatic facial manipulations or exaggerated movements of many silent film male stars. Rather, Wegener tells us his characters thoughts and feeling swith subtle glances, almost imperceptible lip movements, and ingenius body posture. Wegener, you may recall, played the great clay giant Der Golem in his film of the same name; to see Wegener play this role, sans makeup and gravitas, is to understand the strength of his abilities.
Overall the film is very good, although suffers from an ending not in keeping with all that builds up to it. A seduction scene between father and "daughter" is outrageous even by today's standards. But Alraune/Mandrake is presented as almost soulless, and this is much diluted by the end, although not truly explained. Was it nurture after all? Possibly, but the doctor's role in Alraune's maturation is almost nonexistent (she is raised in a girl's school, and spends the rest of the time running away from "father.") The film fails to answer the questions is presents. However, this may be one of the few negative symptoms of German silent films, which seem to universally fall apart at the resolution, backing away from the horrors they presented throughout.
I am not sure if the version currently available on video is complete, but seems to soft-pedal the insemination issue (some viewers will think mandrake root was used as opposed to the hanged man's seed.) The title cards are few and far between, allowing the visuals to tell the story, not the dialog.
For fans of the Frankenstein myth, Alraune presents another take on the tale of scientific hubris gone awry. An excellent film, it should be sought out in favor of the later (weaker) "Unholy Love" remakes.

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电影拍的不错，对节奏和叙事把握都挺好，但主题处理让电影掉了档次，曼德拉草本身是给男人带来不幸的产物，她的抗争只是对创造者的报复，本性并不善良最后却过上幸福生活，故事本身也够狗血，完全辜负了这个有失常伦和人造人宿命感的科幻题材
剪得过碎。不过拍得还挺吸引人的。
该片是默片时代后期对德国作家汉斯海因茨埃韦斯冷酷的同名科幻小说的第三度改编，讲述了疯狂医生将杀人犯与妓女基因结合创造出无羞耻感人类的故事，片中“父女”引诱场景以及伴随复仇情节而逐渐明晰的性成分今天看来也足够引起愤怒。尽管非表现主义，但影片光影运用仍成功反映了角色扭曲心灵。
我创造了你，所以我就要搞你么？Nature will have her revenge!
很无语的剧情，算了，至少女主是GH…
Alraune与科学家的关系耐人寻味，Frankenstein与 Pygmalion的结合； Brigitte Helm引诱Paul Wegener，透过手持镜窥视“父亲”，而对方也同样在窥视自己的“造物”。
大都会女主本色打乒乓
为了看布里吉特·赫尔姆
布里吉特·赫尔姆的眼睛。
和<科学怪人>的主题寓意相似却不尽相同，都说明了人造人科学研究的可耻和对上帝的亵渎，造人者也必收到惩罚，曼德拉草的结局刻意好于弗兰肯斯坦，但如此处理却不高明。布里吉特赫尔姆极度美丽邪魅的眼睛是我唯一印象深刻的一双眼睛，自看完<大都会>后就久久不能忘怀，在此片中亦是如此。
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZjJmejaRc0
布里吉特·赫尔姆的眼睛。（20151028）
7.1