The Public Woman

The Public Woman

1984 · 113 min · ★ 6.0 · Drama

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.

Directed by Andrzej Żuławski · Written by Dominique Garnier

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Rent or Buy

Cast

Valérie Kaprisky Ethel
Francis Huster Lucas Kessling
Lambert Wilson Milan Mliska
Patrick Bauchau Ethel's Father
Gisèle Pascal Gertrude
Roger Dumas André
Diane Delor Elena Mliska
Jean-Paul Farré Pierre
Olivier Achard 1st Assistant Director
Yveline Ailhaud Rachel
Michel Albertini Maurice
Marianne Basler Young Anarchist

Make it a double feature

4h 38m together

The Public Woman

On the Silver Globe

Both from Andrzej Żuławski.

More from Andrzej ŻuławskiSee all →

On the Silver Globe

On the Silver Globe · 1989

On the Silver Globe

MovieScience FictionDrama

A small group of cosmic explorers, including a woman, leaves Earth to start a new civilization. They do not realize that within themselves they carry the end of their own dream. They die one by one, while their children revert to a primitive native culture, creating new myths and a new god.

Boris Godounov

Boris Godounov · 1989

MovieMusicDrama

A possible impostor torments a newly crowned medieval czar who may have ordered the real successor's death.

Possession

Possession · 1981

A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.

The Devil

The Devil · 1972

MovieHorrorHistory

Young Polish nobleman Jakub is saved from imprisonment by a stranger. In return, the stranger wants to obtain a list of Jakub’s fellow conspirators. As he follows his mysterious savior across the country, Jakub is affected by the overall chaos and moral corruption; he goes insane and becomes a mass murderer.

That Most Important Thing: Love

That Most Important Thing: Love · 1975

That Most Important Thing: Love

MovieDramaRomance

Servais Mont, a freelance photographer who works taking compromising photos, gets fascinated by Nadine Chevalier, a tormented low-budget movie actress married to an eccentric film photo collector.

The Third Part of the Night

The Third Part of the Night · 1972

The Third Part of the Night

Set during the Nazi occupation of Poland, the story follows Michał, who witnesses the murder of his mother, wife and child and then is hurled into a life that literally is not his own; a surreal world littered with trapdoors, doppelgängers and wormholes.

The Night of the Generals

The Night of the Generals · 1967

The Night of the Generals

MovieThrillerMystery

A German intelligence officer investigates a prostitute's killing in Warsaw during World War II. He lands on three major Nazi generals as suspects, two of whom are also involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.

Love at Twenty

Love at Twenty · 1962

MovieDramaRomance

Love at Twenty unites five directors from five different countries to present their different perspectives on what love really is at the age of 20. The episodes are united with the score of Georges Delerue and still photos of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

The Ashes

The Ashes · 1965

Set in the time of Napoleon wars, shows how the wars swept over the unfortunate Polish country at the beginning of the XIX-th century. Story revolves around the Polish legion under command of General Dabrowski, who then fought on Napoleon's side with the hopes of Poland's revival.

Cosmos

MovieDramaComedy

Two young men seek the solitude of the country; their peace is disturbed when a set of random occurrences suggest to their susceptible minds a pattern with sinister meanings.

The Song of Triumphant Love

The Song of Triumphant Love · 1969

The Song of Triumphant Love

MovieDramaHorror

One night noble married couple Fabiusz and Waleria find that their long-estranged friend Mucjusz has returned from his travels of distant lands. During dinner, he presents them with mysterious and exotic gifts.

Dangerous Liaisons

Dangerous Liaisons · 2003

Dangerous Liaisons

Updated adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' classic 18th Century tale of seduction, betrayal and revenge set in the modern 1960s world of Parisian high society. The beautiful Madame de Merteuil seeks vengeance against her ex-lover Gercourt when he becomes engaged to her young goddaughter, Cécile.

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days · 1989

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days

MovieDramaRomance

Lucas has invented a new computer language but at the same time he has been informed about his strange terminal illness during which he has been gradually losing his memory. Shortly after that he meets Blanche who acts as a medium in a bizarre traveling show. Dying Lucas follows her to the sea resort where they spend together several days and nights.

Szamanka

Szamanka · 1996

MovieDramaThriller

Anthropology professor Michal develops two overwhelming obsessions. The first one is a mummified, 3,000 year-old, perfectly preserved body of a shaman he and his colleagues have recently dragged out of a swamp. The second is an enigmatic student he meets by chance at a railway station.

Possession: Kerasukan

Possession: Kerasukan · 2024

Possession: Kerasukan

MovieDramaHorror

A young woman leaves her family for unknown reasons. Her husband, determined to find out the truth, starts following her. He initially suspects that a man is involved, but gradually, discovers more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a simple love affair.

Pavoncello

Pavoncello · 1967

MovieDramaRomance

In 1912, Szczebieniew, a rich and ailing old man, comes to Italy with his young wife, Zinaida. Bored with his company, she looks for amusement and casual affairs.

More Like This

Cruel Intentions

Cruel Intentions · 1999

Cruel Intentions

MovieDramaRomance

Slaking a thirst for dangerous games, Kathryn challenges her stepbrother, Sebastian, to deflower their headmaster's daughter before the summer ends. If he succeeds, the prize is the chance to bed Kathryn. But if he loses, Kathryn will claim his most prized possession.

Roman Holiday

Roman Holiday · 1953

MovieRomanceComedy

Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann takes off for a night while in Rome. When a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, however, she falls asleep on a park bench and is found by an American reporter, Joe Bradley, who takes her back to his apartment for safety. At work the next morning, Joe finds out Ann's regal identity and bets his editor he can get exclusive interview with her, but romance soon gets in the way.

JFK

MovieDramaThriller

Follows the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison.

Moulin Rouge!

Moulin Rouge! · 2001

MovieDramaRomance

A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century. A young poet, who is plunged into the heady world of Moulin Rouge, begins a passionate affair with the club's most notorious and beautiful star.

Sliver

MovieDramaThriller

A woman moves into a Manhattan apartment, where she learns that the previous tenant's life ended under mysterious circumstances.

All the President's Men

All the President's Men · 1976

All the President's Men

MovieDramaMystery

During the 1972 elections, two reporters' investigation sheds light on the controversial Watergate scandal that compels President Nixon to resign from his post.

MovieThrillerCrime

A prominent politician is murdered during a demonstration. The government and army are trying to suppress the truth, but a tenacious magistrate is determined not to let them get away with it.

The Lovers on the Bridge

The Lovers on the Bridge · 1991

The Lovers on the Bridge

MovieDramaRomance

Set against Paris' oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, while it was closed for repairs, this film is a love story between two young vagrants: Alex, a would be circus performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives and Michele, a painter driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship and an affliction which is slowly turning her blind.

Belle Époque

Belle Époque · 1992

MovieComedyDrama

In 1931, a young soldier deserts from the army and falls into a country farm, where he is welcomed by the owner due to his political ideas. Manolo has four daughters, Fernando likes all of them and they like him, so he has to decide which one to love.

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum · 2007

The Bourne Ultimatum

MovieActionDrama

Bourne is brought out of hiding once again by reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar, an upgrade to Project Treadstone, in a series of newspaper columns. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally uncover his dark past while dodging The Company's best efforts to eradicate him.

Spanglish

Spanglish · 2004

MovieDramaComedy

Mexican immigrant and single mother Flor Moreno finds housekeeping work with Deborah and John Clasky, a well-off couple with two children of their own. When Flor admits she can't handle the schedule because of her daughter, Cristina, Deborah decides they should move into the Clasky home. Cultures clash and tensions run high as Flor and the Claskys struggle to share space while raising their children on their own, and very different, terms.

Time to Leave

Time to Leave · 2005

Romain, 31, a fashion photographer with terminal cancer, elects to die alone, preparing others to live past him rather than prolong the inevitable with chemotherapy or be smothered in sympathy by those who know him.

The Post

The Post · 2017

MovieDramaHistory

A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between journalist and government. Inspired by true events.

Closer

MovieDramaRomance

The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.

Avalon

A Polish-Jewish family comes to the U.S. at the beginning of the twentieth century. There, the family and their children try to make themselves a better future in the so-called promised land.

Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti

Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti · 2017

Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti

MovieDramaRomance

In 1891, the French painter Paul Gauguin leaves Paris and travels to Tahiti to renew his art as a free man, far from the European artistic conventionalism. On his journey of discovery, he faces solitude and disease, but he also knows the beauty of wild nature and the love of Tehura, a young native girl who becomes his wife and model.

The Cousins

The Cousins · 1959

Young provincial Charles arrives in Paris to stay with his cousin Paul while studying law. Paul is a decadent, bohemian pleasure-seeker who shows the meek, diligent Charles the thrills of city life. When Charles falls for Florence, one of Paul's acquaintances, relationships begin to shift.

Topaz

MovieDramaThriller

Copenhagen, Denmark, 1962. When a high-ranking Soviet official decides to change sides, a French intelligence agent is caught up in a cold, silent and bloody spy war in which his own family will play a decisive role.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter