Games of Desire (German : Die Lady) is a German-French drama film released in 1964 and featuring Swedish star Ingrid Thulin in the lead role.
Nadine Anderson, an elegant well-to-do woman, leads a luxurious but boring life, the wife of the Swedish ambassador to Athens. Her husband, Eliot's lack of sexual interest is responsible for Nadine's sexual frustration. The marriage is a fraud as Eliot is interested only in men, with an eye on his young secretary Martin. No longer willing to continue her deeply unsatisfying life Nadine becomes a prostitute in the dim streets of Piraeus, the port of Athens, in search of "real men" who give her that which her husband is neither able nor willing to.
She meets Nikos, a dock worker, who exemplifies her idea of a "real man". But his manipulative sister Electra, a prostitute and a striptease dancer, tries to blackmail the Ambassador's wife. Electra wants to leave her miserable existence behind and demands that Nadine hire her as a maid with a good salary. Nadine bows to this blackmail. Eliot Anderson is displeased because his secretary falls in love with Electra. Eliot immediately dismisses her.
Electra eventually learns that Nadine works as a prostitute. At this revelation, there is a violent quarrel between the siblings, as a result of which Nikos strikes Electra violently, killing her. His relationship with Nadine is over, and she leaves him.
The movie was filmed mainly in Greece. The rarely shown film passed German censorship on September 25, 1964 and was premiered on October 2, 1964. [1] The sets were designed by Max Mellin and built by Tibor Rednas. Some years after its original release, the film was reissued under the provocative title Countess Porno of Ecstasy (German : Gräfin Porno von Ekstasien).
The German-language review magazine Films called it a "three-star story that does not live up to its artistic standards and is unacceptable in its basic attitude." [2] The Encyclopedia of international Film called it an "ambitiously designed film collage." [3]
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays. With a career spanning five decades, she is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cinematic history. She won numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, four Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Award and a Volpi Cup. She is one of only four actresses to have received at least three acting Academy Awards. In 1999, the American Film Institute recognised Bergman as the fourth greatest female screen legend of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
The White-Slave Traffic Act, also called the Mann Act, is a United States federal law, passed June 25, 1910. It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann of Illinois.
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Ingrid Lilian Thulin was a Swedish actress and director who collaborated with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She was often cast as harrowing and desperate characters, and earned acclaim from both Swedish and international critics. She won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her performance in Brink of Life (1958) and the inaugural Guldbagge Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Silence (1963), and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for Cries and Whispers (1972).
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Brink of Life, is a 1958 Swedish drama film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Bergman won the Best Director Award and Andersson, Dahlbeck, Ornäs and Thulin won the Best Actress Award at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival.
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Salon Kitty is a 1976 erotic-war-drama film directed by Tinto Brass. The film was coproduced by Italy, France and West Germany. It is based on the novel of the same name by Peter Norden, covering the real life events of the Salon Kitty operation, under which the Sicherheitsdienst took over an expensive brothel in Berlin, had the place wire tapped, and replaced all the prostitutes with trained spies, in order to gather information on various members of the Nazi party and foreign dignitaries.
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