Tagebuch einer Verlorenen

Who would have guessed that these two collaborated in a film superior to Pandora's Box. Pabst and Brooks were a rare combination indeed, and must serve as another decisive exception to the auteur theory. Having just viewed both, I think a case can be made that the Lost Girl film is actually superior to the admittedly better known film. How Krackhaeur could have ignored the value of these two films in his "Caligari to Hitler" book is indeed baffling. The scenes in the "foster" home are fascinating and may indeed say something about the authoritarian mindset of 20s Germany. (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is another good example)

This excellent drama accomplishes the difficult task of being quite earthy, and often grim, in the ways that it depicts its characters and their lives, yet at the same time being an ultimately uplifting story about the possibilities of human understanding. It also features a fine performance by Louise Brooks. Her performance in "Diary of a Lost Girl" is on a par with that in "Pandora's Box", her other celebrated collaboration with G.W. Pabst.

The story has Brooks as a pharmacist's daughter whose young life is drastically changed by events that she can only dimly understand. From then on, she must endure a variety of trials while gradually learning some important lessons, often with only the barest help from those around her. The role contrasts nicely with her role in "Pandora's Box". Both in that film and in "Diary of a Lost Girl", she has the same level of energy and appeal, but in the former movie, right from the beginning she was very much the catalyst for the other characters' actions, while here she begins as an innocent youth who is completely at the mercy of all of the others, and then grows as the movie proceeds.

The settings are well-chosen so as both to contrast with her character, and to develop it. Her experiences show many aspects of the seamier side of both human nature and human living, and yet this is by no means a mere gratuitous display of sordidness, but rather a growing experience for Brooks's character. It culminates in an uplifting finale that is all the more effective for having arisen from material that is by no means idealistic.

The expressionistic style in the photography, lighting, and sets enhances the atmosphere and also the effectiveness of the story and the characters. The slightly stylized nature of both works quite well, and all of this contributes significantly to the high quality of the movie.

Louise Brooks is Thymian, a girl with an unfortunate tendency to swoon in the arms of unscrupulous men. She has an unwanted baby and, abandoned by her father and cruel mother-in-law is sent to a harsh reformatory from which she escapes only to wake up one morning and discover she is a prostitute. Brooks is charming and effective as Thymian, a delicate, kind-hearted girl whose innocence is only cruelly taken advantage of - she certainly has no trouble getting us on her side and it's partly to do with the sense of childish happiness you feel is ready to burst out of her despite the adversity. She looks even cuter with her hair slicked back in the workhouse. Not as powerful and bleakly tragic as Pandora's Box, made the same year - but, with plenty of humour and some outrageous characterisations, is probably more entertaining.

Silent films may not be for everybody, some may find some of them static, histrionic and creaky. Likewise with films from the 20s, with those being adapted from stage plays having a lot of traps that tended to be fallen into. As for me, while there are some that are not great or even good and do not hold up there are plenty that are good and even great. Such as the best of FW Murnau, Fritz Lang, DW Griffith and Abel Gance, all of whom did some very influential work.

GW Pabst is another director to fit under this distinction. He was a major influence in films and was known for his direction of actresses that he had found and developed their acting skills. One of those actresses was Louise Brooks, a gifted and very uniquely photogenic actresses and Pabst was one of the few directors to recognise the major strengths she had and used them to full advantage. Something that sadly did not happen when she transitioned into sound, where people did not seem to know what to do with her. He was also known for doing films that dealt with the difficulties and dangers of women. He proved that again in specifically his films with Brooks, especially 'Pandora's Box' and this film 'Diary of a Lost Girl'.

'Diary of a Lost Girl' may have been butchered by censorship, including a lot of content being excised and the ending apparently not what Pabst had originally intended (correct if wrong). It still remains an incredibly powerful picture that makes one amazed at how such a sordid subject was portrayed on film to this extent, seldom done in film beforehand and not in a way that probably will have shocked many.

It is not quite perfect, though it nearly is. In my view the ending felt a little too preachy.

However, three things are especially brilliant in 'Diary of a Lost Girl'. The cinematography is just exquisite with some incredibly stylish and atmospheric camera angles, which makes it far from visually static. It's handsomely designed too and has some suitably moody lighting. The Expressionistic look enhances the uncompromising atmosphere so well. Pabst's direction is lean and creates a sense of tense uneasiness without ever being ill at ease, handling a harrowing and for back then brave subject and pulling no punches. Brooks is mesmerising in a truly powerful performance that is among her best.

The supporting cast are not quite as great, but are more than solid. The standout to me being Valeska Gert as the beastly matron, calling the character beastly actually is being too kind and Gert is quite frightening. While the ending doesn't completely come off, it at least didn't feel tacked on (unlike too many films that suffered from censor tinkering) and maintained the rest of the film's harrowing tone. Complete with a final line that stays in the mind. The story pulls no punches and still shocks, not feeling tame today.

Overall, wonderful film. 9/10

When I startes watching "Diary of a lost girl" my expectation was that this was a twin film of "Pandora's box" (1929, Georg Wilhelm Pabst). Both films were a Pabst / Louise Brooks collaboration and in both films (I thought) the Louise Brooks character (Lulu in "Pandora's box" and Thymian in "Diary of a lost girl") symbolized the decadence of the roaring twenties.

I was surprised that after all Thymian is entirely different from Lulu. Lulu is a call girl (who ends badly), and Thymian is in the first place a victim of a society in which it is "normal" that men satisfy their sexual needs and women pay the price. Because Thymian differs from Lulu, "Diary of a lost girl" differs from "Pandora's box". In effect "Diary of a lost girl" is more akin to "The joyless street" (1925, Georg Wilhelm Pabst).

One of the lead actress of "The joyless street" was Greta Garbo. For her the Pabst film was the start of her career. For Louise Brooks it was the end. She was too independent for the Hollywood dream factory. In retrospect however the two films she made with Pabst gave her immortality (some decades later).

Apart from the Thymian character I was amazed by the rather obvious lesbian character of the matron of the reformatory Thymian is sent to (when she has "to pay the price"). The film was however made outside Hollywood in the first place and before the production code in the second. The actress playing this role (Valeska Gert) is moreover another link to "The joyless street". In this film she plays Frau Greifer, who runs a nightclub annex brothel.