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Marlene

Play trailer Poster for Marlene 1984,  1h 35m,  Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 100% 8 Reviews Tomatometer 95% 100+ Ratings Popcornmeter
100% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 95% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Directed by German actor Maximilian Schell, this film focuses on the life and career of screen star Marlene Dietrich. The famous actress declined to appear in any new interviews, so much of the documentary consists of the notoriously private Dietrich talking to Schell off-screen over film clips and photos of her legendary Hollywood heyday. Among the movies featured in the production are "The Blue Angel" and "Judgment at Nuremberg," a film that included both Schell and Dietrich in the cast.

Critics Reviews

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Geoff Brown The Times (UK) Apr 14, 2020
Marlene, then, is infuriating, but rarely boring: Dietrich herself makes sure of that. Go to Full Review
Melissa Anderson Village Voice May 31, 2017
A shrewd summa of stardom and late-life legend-burnishing, wearily but no less admiringly acknowledging its irascible subject's perverse genius Go to Full Review
Bill Weber Slant Magazine Oct 5, 2009
3/4
The bilingual parrying between the withholding diva and her frustrated chronicler often seems like Sunset Boulevard re-imagined as a radio play, with sex removed from the equation but marlenus interruptus aplenty. Go to Full Review
Joe Bittmann Washington Blade May 24, 2022
Schell’s film is therefore an achievement, building on the heterodox, oblique-angled technique of Marcel Ophuls to reconstruct Dietrich’s life like a mood piece. Go to Full Review
Michael W. Phillips, Jr. Goatdog's Movies Oct 26, 2009
4/5
I think we learn much more about Dietrich than we would have if she had submitted to the usual paint-by-numbers, fawning Biography Channel type of film. Go to Full Review
Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid Oct 10, 2009
The result is a fascinating document, not only of the star herself, but also of the documentary as personal process. Go to Full Review
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Marlene

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Cast & Crew

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Maximilian Schell

Director

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Marlene

Marlene (1984) Marlene (1984) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Directed by German actor Maximilian Schell, this film focuses on the life and career of screen star Marlene Dietrich. The famous actress declined to appear in any new interviews, so much of the documentary consists of the notoriously private Dietrich talking to Schell off-screen over film clips and photos of her legendary Hollywood heyday. Among the movies featured in the production are "The Blue Angel" and "Judgment at Nuremberg," a film that included both Schell and Dietrich in the cast.
Director
Maximilian Schell
Production Co
Bayerischer Rundfunk, Braun Entertainment Group
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 2, 1984, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 1, 2016
Runtime
1h 35m
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