Marlene Dietrich: Sexuality, Performance and Politics

Organised by : Chichester Cinema

This talk at Chichester Cinema by Professor Maggie Andrews and Sonia Smith celebrates Chichester Pride by exploring iconic Hollywood legend and anti-fascist campaigner Marlene Dietrich.

She rose to stardom by embracing androgynous roles, displaying sexual allure in Morocco (1930), sporting top hats and tuxedos, while in films such as The Scarlet Empress (1932) and Shanghai Express (1932) she cast aside preconceived ideas of gender.

Her public image was one of an openly bisexual woman, sporting male attire, and casting aside preconceived ideas of gender.

Nevertheless, although often seen as ahead of her time, Dietrich was both a product of Weimar Germany and a response to the rise of Nazism, exemplified by the post-war satire A Foreign Affair (1948).

100m inc. Q&A. Tickets £8.