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"A baron marries a doll—until she comes to life and steals his heart. Magical, funny, and quintessential Lubitsch! Introduced and discussed by Maaike van der Horst."
The Doll (1919) is a satirical silent film by the German-American director Ernst Lubitsch, in which romance, desire, and social conventions collide.
When the shy heir Lancelot is pressured into marriage, a monk devises an apparently perfect solution: a wedding to a lifelike doll. But nothing is as it seems. Behind the mechanical smile hides a real woman, and with her come real desires, confusion, and the awakening of love.
With inventive sets, visual humor, and subtle social critique, Lubitsch displays his early mastery. The Doll balances between fairy tale and satire, posing questions that remain surprisingly relevant: what is real, what is performed, and how much control do we have over the roles imposed upon us?
Maaike van der Horst is a PhD candidate in Philosophy of Technology & Psychoanalysis at the University of Twente. Her research focuses on how ideas about sexuality, intimacy, and desire are influenced by sex robots. She approaches this topic through the philosophy of Jacques Lacan, viewed through a queer and existential lens.
About Philofilm Philofilm is a monthly series, in which, on each first Monday of the month, a film is introduced and discussed by a philosopher. The evenings are entirely in the English language. Philofilm is a collaboration between Concordia and Ideefiks, the study association for Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society at the University of Twente.
Subtitles
English