Das dritte Leben der Lya de Putti

Lya de Putti was an actress whose vamp-like roles made her the talk of the town in Berlin in the twenties. She played in films by people like F.W. Murnau. E.A. Dupont and A. Robinson. Soon she was making enough money to behave herself as a femme fatale in her private life, too. In no time her name was associated with gossip about erotic excesses, scandals and an extravagant life style. In the late twenties she got the chance to cross the ocean to the United States. Due to the invention of the sound film and the diminishing popularity of vamp?like roles, her star fell as quickly as it had risen. In 1931 she died lonely and forgotten in New York. In DAS DRITTE LEBEN DER LYA DE PUTTI filmmaker Gisa Schleelein reconstructs the fascinating life of this woman. We go back to her native country Hungary, where she left her husband and children to make her dream come true. Her husband, shocked that a noble girl aspired a career in the limelight, organised a mock funeral for his runaway wife. Together with two of Lya de Putti's admirers Schleelein pays a visit to the daughters of the heroine of the silent movie, who are very old now. The film manages to solve a lot of the mysteries about this movie star's eventful life. But some questions will never be answered, otherwise Lya de Putti would never have become such a mythical figure.