玛格达琳娜·蒙特祖玛 Magdalena Montezuma (1943年)

As with all divas, Montezuma’s story begins with the moment of ‘discovery’. Most of what we know of her offscreen work and life come from reminiscences in Schroeter’s memoir, dictated to Claudia Lenssen shortly before his death in 2010.3 We see her here, as we do in the films themselves, through Schroeter’s gaze. Schroeter met Erika Kluge in the bohemian milieu surrounding Heidelberg University in the 1960s. He was struck by her philosophical air and “amazing eyes”. Her childhood was one of suffering and triumph over adversity. Due to tuberculosis in her spinal marrow, she had to wear a large cast and, confined indoors, could see the outside world only by gazing at the street through a mirror. Schroeter found a dark glamour in what he termed her “deep melancholy”, perhaps an effect of her struggles with depression.5 He rechristened her Magdalena Montezuma, after a character in Patrick Dennis’ novel Little Me, a parody of diva memoirs and celebrity culture in which Montezuma is the heroine’s exotic nemesis. This alter-ego encapsulated Kluge’s genuine allure and the camp sensibility that infused Schroeter’s aesthetic, and which Montezuma’s performances deliver with great impact.