Queen of Atlantis

The story

Two young officers, Saint-Avit and Morhange, get lost in the desert and find themselves prisoners of the beautiful Antinéa, queen of the city of Atlantis. Saint-Avit, blinded by his love for her, obeys her when she orders him to kill his comrade... With L’Atlantide, Pabst offers a psychoanalytic reading of Benoit’s novel, with a dominant female figure who enslaves her lovers before destroying them. The film’s fantasy dimension is disturbing, L’Atlantide bathes in a humid nightmare atmosphere, between the desperate search for a missing friend and the apparitions of an underworld lost in the desert. A long, discursive flashback suggests the Parisian origins of Antinéa, born from the marriage between Clémentine, a pretty, light-thighed French Cancan dancer, and an Arab prince seduced during a theatrical performance. But again, it's impossible to know whether these are the ramblings of an old alcoholic or the strange truth.

In the same saga

The Mistress of Atlantis (G.W. Pabst)

In release order

The Mistress of Atlantis

1932

This film

Queen of Atlantis

1932

The Mistress of Atlantis

1932

Cast

B Brigitte HelmAntinea H Heinz KlingenbergLt. Saint-Avit G Gustav DiesslCapt. Morange V Vladimir SokoloffGraf Bielowski T Tela TchaïTanid F FlorelleClementine M Mathias WiemanEwar Torstenson G Georges TourreilLt. Ferrieres G Gertrude PabstJournalist R Rositta Severus-Liedernit M Marfa Kassatskaya