La femme publique

The Public Woman () is a 1984 French drama film inspired by Dostoevsky's novel The Devils and directed by Andrzej Żuławski, starring Valérie Kaprisky, Lambert Wilson and Francis Huster as the lead actors. The film had a total of 1,302,425 admissions in France where it was the 28th highest grossing film of the year.

Plot summary

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 assasination.

Awards

César Awards, France, 1985

Nominated

• Best Actress - Valérie Kaprisky
• Best Supporting Actor - Lambert Wilson
• Best Writing - Adaptation - Andrzej Żuławski and Dominique Garnier

Montréal World Film Festival 1984

• Won Most Popular Film - Andrzej Żuławski
• Won Special Prize of the Jury - Andrzej Żuławski

DVD releases

The film enjoyed its English-speaking debut on DVD in late 2008, when new label Mondo Vision released the film as its debut title. The disc features a commentary from Andrzej Zulawski and a video interview, where he discusses Polish cinema and the film's production. The film is also...
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