Stockholm Film Festival

Orphaned siblings Irena and Paul – playedby Nastassja Kinski and Malcolm McDowell –reunite in New Orleans after having spent 20years apart. Since their parents’ suicide, thebrother and sister have been separated and sentto foster homes. Irena, already suffering fromsexual inhibition, is shocked when Paul makesinappropriate advances toward her; shortlythereafter, he disappears. Later on, a prostituteis mutilated in a motel room by a panther thatis captured by the police and then held by ateam of zoologists. By accident, Irena ends upat the zoo that houses the panther, and she isstrangely drawn to the animal.With its hefty amounts of violent gore andgraphic sex, “Cat People” is, not surprisingly, infinitely more explicit than Jacques Tourneur’s1942 adaptation of DeWitt Bodeen’s story.Still, the fearless approach of exploring therelationship between female sexuality andviolence, within a modified werewolf theme,is as provocative as ever. The sound of thesuggestive synthesizer-laden soundtrack byGiorgio Moroder, featuring vocals by DavidBowie, has been picked up by DJs and musicproducers ever since.

Cast

Natassia Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, John Heard

Producer

Charles W. Fries

Script

Paul Schrader

Cinematography

John Bailey

Music

Giorgio Moroder

Spoken language

English

 

Other films from the Lifetime Achievement Award section

See all the festival films from 2007