The Girl on the Cross (Mädchen am Kreuz)

Director: Louise Kolm Fleck

1929 / 77min / DCP

Kolm-Fleck’s film begins with the appearance of a happy-go-lucky lark, following Evelyn Holt’s Marie, a vivacious student, as she fills her school holiday with laughter and leisure—but the film’s title, which translates to “Girl on the Cross,” gives ominous warning of the about-face ahead, which arrives with a shocking act of sexual assault, the ritual shaming of the victim, and her extralegal revenge on the perpetrator. Ripping off the facade of the happy bourgeoisie home—represented by Mary’s father (Fritz Odemar) and much-younger second wife (Valerie Boothby)—Mädchen am Kreuz finds a seething nest of impropriety, infidelity, and hypocrisy, revealing how quickly and terribly the worshipful cult of the innocent young virgin Fräulein can turn on the very women it once claimed to revere. Screens with live piano accompaniment by Makia Matsumura.

DCP courtesy of Filmarchiv Austria

Live piano accompaniment by Makia Matsumura and post-screening discussion with Nikolaus Wostry, Deputy Director of the Filmarchiv Austria, moderated by Drew Björkstén, Fellow for Columbia University’s Women Film Pioneers Project, on Saturday, November 8th