LOUISE BROOKS

The star of Pabst´s “Lulu” was not only one of the biggest symbols of the roaring 20s for her sexyness and crazyness, but she was also a true individualist. She couldn’t have cared less for what Hollywood and the public thought of her. All her life, she made her own choices, both professionally and personally, sometimes paying a high price for it. Hollywood made Louise Brooks famous for her daring hairstyle and flapper-like allure, but the films she made in Europe (which had for her the consequence of being blacklisted in Hollywood) showed the best of an obscure and exotic personality, sexually ambiguous and liberated, always playing outcast characters in a very human way. Her social compromise and edgyness were not appreciated back in America, and thus Brooks gradually quit cinema to work in Bloomingdale’s for a living. She then earned a good reputation writing about film, of which she had a very deep knowledge and an undeniable talent. Her having the courage to quit being a film star to be completely free as a person is what makes us absolutely crazy about Louise Brooks.