The Public Woman
1984 · 1h 53m · Drama
This is a deliberately weird, meta-theatrical mindbender that demands patience and rewards close attention — but a 6.4 on IMDb suggests it doesn't quite stick the landing. Skip it unless you're specifically hunting for obscure '80s European cinema about the blurred lines between performance and reality.
Plot
An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into commiting a political assassination.
Director: Andrzej Żuławski
Cast: Valérie Kaprisky, Francis Huster, Lambert Wilson, Patrick Bauchau, Gisèle Pascal
