For me it's this simple: the clips from Dietrich's movies are great. They are hard not to love, all of them in different ways. And the clips from documentary footage are moving, too, and make sense in putting her life in order.
But the insinuation of the director, the interviewer, into her life, and into her emotional state, is damaging both to the film and to the subject. Yes, there are little moments when Dietrich says things that seem to be truthful, and seem to actually matter. But there are a very few seconds or minutes of the whole. Much of the film has Schell cajoling and annoying the poor woman.
At first you think Dietrich is just posturing and full of herself, saying how she isn't interested in digging up her past. But as it goes you realize how right she must be, and how appropriate (especially with such an up and down life, with WWII in the middle of it). But Schell just keeps pushing with his hautiness, as if we the viewers appreciate his relentlessness.
I did not. It left a terrible taste in my mouth, and I for one want to be a "dreamer" and enjoy both the real woman, whatever she was willing to show of her, and the star, which we know from her movies. This documentary does little for either side of her life. It's mostly about the ambitions of a comparatively small person, the director Max Schell.
But the insinuation of the director, the interviewer, into her life, and into her emotional state, is damaging both to the film and to the subject. Yes, there are little moments when Dietrich says things that seem to be truthful, and seem to actually matter. But there are a very few seconds or minutes of the whole. Much of the film has Schell cajoling and annoying the poor woman.
At first you think Dietrich is just posturing and full of herself, saying how she isn't interested in digging up her past. But as it goes you realize how right she must be, and how appropriate (especially with such an up and down life, with WWII in the middle of it). But Schell just keeps pushing with his hautiness, as if we the viewers appreciate his relentlessness.
I did not. It left a terrible taste in my mouth, and I for one want to be a "dreamer" and enjoy both the real woman, whatever she was willing to show of her, and the star, which we know from her movies. This documentary does little for either side of her life. It's mostly about the ambitions of a comparatively small person, the director Max Schell.