Doomed Beauty

Was her beauty a blessing or a curse? What is certain is that both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were fascinated by the celebrated Czech-Austrian actress Lída Baarová. In the end, it was Goebbels with whom she had a relationship, and she and her family paid a high price for it after the war.

Baarová chain smokes as she tells her tragic life story, but elicits little sympathy from the viewer. The tears she sheds are not for the victims of the Nazis. She distances herself from Goebbels's deeds, but not from her love for him, claiming that she didn’t know what he stood for.

Rather than contradicting Baarová during the interview, director Helena Třeštíková intersperses her story with historical footage showing what was going on at the time. This includes terrifying material from the time of their romance, when Goebbels organized a major book burning of Jewish literature. Třeštíková also makes good use of excerpts from the black-and-white films in which Baarová performed with heart and soul—they add color, context and subtle commentary to her story.