1922 · drama · silent
Foolish Wives
Directed by Erich von Stroheim2h 23m1922
A con artist masquerades as Russian nobility and attempts to seduce the wife of an American diplomat.
Our read: Foolish Wives (1922) reads as a sombre, steady, grounded drama · silent entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature.
Sombre, steady, measured drama / silent, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, mid-stakes, cold.
- sombre
- cold
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How Foolish Wives feels to watch.
Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.
What watching it is actually like.
“You want lavish silent-era decadence and a con man's seduction games in Monte Carlo.”
Skip it tonight — Skip tonight if long silent films or slow deliberate pacing will frustrate you.
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