"The Scarlet Empress" (1934)

There’s a tendency to perceive Josef von Sternberg’s films as decadent or indulgent; his films looks exquisite and he likes focusing his lens on and packing his frames with lavish objects. But the graceful gaze of von Sternberg is ultimately deceptive. The Scarlet Empress is a film about the rise of Catherine the Great (von Sternberg’s frequent collaborator and muse Marlene Dietrich) to power, and it’s slightly unsettling just how little message or pointedness von Sternberg provides to the journey. He’s ambiguous, another consistent complaint. However, he’s less ambiguous than usually given credit. The film has its eyes set on the trappings of aristocratic life, but it also pauses to consider what the real price is to all of this decadence. This primarily comes in the form of dark power politics and fascinating gender politics. Catherine slowly discovers agency and a sense of self inside a system that sees her as either a pawn or ornamentation. The Russian tsarist system wants her around only for the sake of producing an heir, but when she grows dissatisfied, after discovering her arranged marriage is to the dimwitted and brutish Peter III (a delightfully bonkers Sam Jaffe), Catherine realizes that she can play the game to her advantage. All she has to do is produce heirs -- not necessarily by Peter's constitution -- and play nice around the right figures, but outside of her duties (which, it’s worth noting, are based on appearances) she can find satisfaction and power. She just has to play her cards right. Part of this comes from playing to her expected role as a female. Catherine is exploited here, but she’s also quick to realize how she can subvert gender roles. She’s not the only one. The ruling Empress before her, her mother-in law Empress Elizabeth (Louise Dressler), understands the realities for women in the 18^th century but she never succumbs to them. The place where von Sternberg’s ambiguity can be troubling is in its treatment of Catherine’s character arc.* Catherine’s enters a naïve child and exits a ruthless monarch, and von Sternberg makes no judgment of it. The film ends its final moments as if they’re triumphant, but they’re also fairly disturbing. Catherine has gained so much, but at what cost? Well, it doesn't really matter when Dietrich is on screen and von Sternberg seems to forget he's supposed to be telling a story. He focuses on, really fetishizes, her, and in these moments von Sternberg's detractors might be right in letter but scarcely in spirit. I could watch those gorgeous surfaces all day.

Grade: A

*I'd just like to note I'm fine with its ambiguity and prefer it that way.