MATA HARI
US/France, 1985, 108 minutes, Colour.
Sylvia Kristel, Christopher Cazenove, Oliver Tobias, Gaye Brown, Gottfried John.
Directed by Curtis Harrington.
Mata Hari has intrigued audiences since her execution during World War I in Paris in 1916, accused of espionage in collaboration with the Germans.There was a silent film in the next decade followed in 1931 by a fictionalised account with Greta Garbo.
One of the reasons for this film is the popularity of Dutch-born actress Sylvia Krisel who made an impact in Emmanuelle and the various sequels, four for cinema, six or seven for television. producers capitalised on her sex appeal by casting her in Lady Chatterley’s Lover in 1981 and in 1984 in this film.
Sylvia Kristel looks the part but her acting abilities are not equal to her appearance. And, she is quite frank in her appearances, sex scenes and nudity. This film has been accused of sexual exploitation.
Two of the principal characters in the film are a German officer played by Christopher Cazenove and a French officer played by Oliver Tobias who encountered her before the war, are entangled with her during the war, especially the German who falls in love with her and she with him. She is exploited by the German authorities, especially being set up and blackmailed by an expert in psychology and warfare, the Fräulein Doktor (who is given lesbian scene with Mata Hari).
There are complications in the relationships, in the French officer taking her to see the massacre of French soldiers by the Germans after the Germans received information that came from her.She is asked by the French to do work for them, especially in Madrid, which leads to a bomb being planted in the Cathedral, her finding it and defusing it.
The film is interesting and entertaining in a pop-drama kind of way.
1. Audience knowledge of Mata Hari? History? World War I? Espionage? The variety of films and miniseries about her?
2. Paris and Berlin during World War I? Paris, city of lights, the cabaret? The military, anticipation of war? During the war, the continued cabaret, the military, relationships? The battle sequences, the massacres? Berlin, cabaret, officials and the preparations for war? The sequences in Madrid, hotels, espionage? The Cathedral and the planting of the bomb? The musical score?
3. Introduction to Mata Hari? The East Indies, the dancing, Hindu gods, exotic? The sexual overtones? Her Dutch origins? In Paris, dancing, the infatuation of Karl, at the gallery, the statue? Her relationship with him? The influence of Ladoux? Her role as a courtesan? On the train, the sexual encounter, the murder of the lover? Her arrival in Berlin, the arrest, the interrogation? The interview with Fräulein Doktor, the insinuations, the emotional blackmail, the sexual encounter with the Fräulein, Mata Hari and her return to France?
4. The outbreak of war, Karl in Paris, her unwittingly giving information, Karl and his patriotism, Ladoux taking her to the massacre site, the effect on her?
5. Ladpux, military, his interest in her, the German experience, her being set up, the murdered man being seen afterwards? His persuading her to go to Madrid?
6. Madrid, the contacts, the hotel, the watchmaker, the invisible ink and the messages? The Naval attache, her seductive behaviour, the presence of Fräulein, the killing of the attaché?
7. Karl, the examination for weapons? The deal with the count and his old-fashioned charm, especially with Mata Hari? The deals, the confrontation, his death?
8. The bomb in the Cathedral, Mata Hari and her tracking it down, the confrontation with the Fräulein, Ladoux and everybody in the cathedral for the rituals, the chant, the pomp, but Mata Hari defusing the bomb?
9. Her arrest, in the court, the evidence from Germany against her? Ladoux trying to save her? Karl absent, his being wounded, her not giving him away?
10. Her courage, taken into the woods, the military force, no blindfold, her being shot?
11. Karl and Ladoux, 1920, meeting at the Museum, Ladoux stating that he tried to save her, their common memory?
12. How effective a memoir of Mata Hari, fictionalised, with the emphasis on sex dimension, sex encounters, nudity, because of the reputation of Sylvia Kristel?
